quiet

noun

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qui·et | \ ˈkwī-ət

Definition of quiet

(Entry 1 of 4)

: the quality or state of being quiet (see quiet entry 2) : tranquility

on the quiet

: in a secretive manner : in secret

quiet

adjective

Definition of quiet (Entry 2 of 4)

1a : free from noise or uproar : still a quiet room The lights went down and the theater became quiet.

b : making or involving no noise or very little noise a quiet motor a quiet conversation Everyone suddenly went quiet. Please be quiet—people are trying to study.

c : tending to speak very little : not loquacious He was a quiet, reserved person.

d : unobtrusive, conservative quiet clothes/colors

2a : marked by little or no motion or activity : calm a quiet sea At such an early hour, the streets seemed strangely quiet.

b : gentle, easygoing a quiet temperament

c : not disturbed by noise or activity quiet reading a moment of quiet contemplation : enjoyed in peace and relaxation a quiet cup of tea

3 : secluded a quiet nook

4 : carried out secretly or discreetly quiet diplomacy : not made known openly or publicly worked with quiet determination She had a quiet confidence about her. He took a quiet satisfaction in a job well done.

quiet

adverb

Definition of quiet (Entry 3 of 4)

: in a quiet manner an engine that runs quiet

quiet

verb

quieted; quieting; quiets

Definition of quiet (Entry 4 of 4)

transitive verb

1 : to cause to be quiet : calm

2 : to make secure by freeing from dispute or question quiet title to a property

intransitive verb

: to become quiet —usually used with down

Other Words from quiet Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Phrases Containing quiet Learn More About quiet

Examples of quiet in a Sentence

Noun My hostess told me she had some records I might like to hear and she called for quiet in the room. People sat down on the floor in groups, sharing bottles of wine and slivovitz. The host put the record on a windup record player and Lester Young's saxophone yowled out of the silence. — Maya Angelou, Gourmet, November 2002 When my parents needed peace and quiet, they didn't put me in front of the television to watch a "Baby Einstein" video; they plopped me in a chair to watch my mom do housework or cook. — Robb Moretti, Newsweek, 5 Aug. 2002 the quiet of a wooded trail Can I have some quiet here? I'm trying to study. I need a little peace and quiet. Adjective Breakfast at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, a members-only institution founded in the city now called Mumbai in 1846 by British colonial officers, is a meal of quiet elegance. The second-story veranda looks out over a small garden and, beyond that, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. Outside is the tumult of horse-drawn carriages, touts, and taxis. Inside is peaceful stillness, broken only by the sounds of crunched-on toast and rustling newspapers. — Lyla Bavadam, Saveur, October 2008 One change I notice is that I get sleepy earlier than I used to, sometimes by 8:30 or 9 if I am having a quiet evening at home. — Andrew Weil, Time, 17 Oct. 2005 I interviewed Virginia, who is totally blind, in a small local library. Walking with her guide dog, this young-looking woman arrived soon after I came in. We found a quiet corner to sit and talk while her dog settled beside her chair. At forty-three, Virginia was used to telling her story and found time for our interview in her busy travel schedule. She had just returned from San Francisco where she had spoken at the California Academy of Sciences and was about to leave for Montreal, Canada, to conduct workshops in diversity awareness. — Mary Grimley Mason, Working Against Odds, 2004 Attributing their behaviors to their personal dispositions, we decide Julie is shy and Jack is outgoing. Because people do have enduring personality traits, such attributions are sometimes valid. However, we often overestimate the influence of personality and underestimate the influence of situations. In class, Jack may be as quiet as Julie. Catch Julie at a party and you may hardly recognize your quiet classmate. — David G. Myers, Psychology, 2001 the quiet hum of the refrigerator He spoke in a very quiet voice. Surprisingly, the class was quiet. He's a very quiet person. She has a quiet disposition. During the morning, business was quiet. Some days at the store are quieter than others. a quiet stretch of road He led a quiet life. Adverb lie quiet and no one will guess you're hiding under the bed Verb Clemens had few questions to answer about Piazza. The beanball and broken bat from 2000, and the Mets' tepid retaliation last season, were memories. And since Clemens recorded his 300th victory on June 13, the buzz around him has quieted. — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 29 June 2003 When she walked down the hall past his classroom, the sounds of chaos came over the frosted-glass pane above the door. She had taken to making random visits; the sight of her in the doorway quieted the kids. — Mary Gordon, Atlantic, May 1999 Even with that, Presser was so scared that he fled to Florida and moved from hotel to hotel till the gang war quieted down, with his side on top. — A. H. Raskin, New York Times Book Review, 10 Dec. 1989 the museum docent told the rowdy youngsters to quiet down for the tour quiet a crying toddler with candy See More

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun In the town of Lyman, where fighting has raged in recent weeks, civilians used the relative quiet to make frantic dashes to the armored evacuation buses organized by the regional government. — Washington Post, 9 May 2022 Pack in, pack out, and enjoy the peace and quiet of solitude. — J.d. Simkins, Sunset Magazine, 13 Apr. 2022 The relative quiet of the capital was sporadically broken by gunfire. — Arkansas Online, 27 Feb. 2022 In the quiet of evening, after competition has ended, the venue echoes with a scudding sound of practice throws and the heavy thunk of takeouts. — Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb. 2022 The quick clean setting is the loudest but works the fastest, while night mode slowly filters the air and remains whisper quiet. — Carly Kulzer, PEOPLE.com, 13 Apr. 2022 There will be no external lighting on the property with the solar farm quiet during the day and silent at night, according to the SunVest slideshow. — Erik S. Hanley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 13 Apr. 2022 The i7, in particular, is whisper quiet at highway speeds with little wind or road noise penetrating the cabin. — Drew Dorian, Car and Driver, 4 Apr. 2022 In contrast, backcountry skiing offers an extraordinary quiet. — Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2022 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective Precisely because the performance is so quiet and restrained it’s an absolute tour de force. — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 12 May 2022 My students tended to be shy, quiet, and traditionally minded. — Peter Hessler, The New Yorker, 9 May 2022 The seashore is clean, quiet and offers visitors plenty of room to spread out. — Gabi De La Rosa, Chron, 6 May 2022 Elad, where the attack took place, is a quiet, small and largely religious town in central Israel not far from Ben Gurion International airport. — Amir Tal, Abeer Salman, Mike Schwartz, CNN, 6 May 2022 Even the quiet and introspective practice of reading or reciting a prayer can be a form of stress-relief within itself — and if the verse happens to relate to your current emotions, then that's even better. — Jackie Frere, Woman's Day, 3 May 2022 Villarreal, the town, is a curious place to stage a game of this magnitude: a satellite of nearby Castéllon, more than anything, quiet and refined and, after a day spent under a torrential downpour, almost entirely deserted. — New York Times, 3 May 2022 Some have said Depp’s quiet and calm responses while talking about previous drug use and other personal matters is a sign of his vulnerability during the case. — NBC News, 22 Apr. 2022 The scene is quiet, sweet and slow, unlike almost anything else in the series. — Selome Hailu, Variety, 22 Apr. 2022 Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb Some of the same companies staying quiet now have spoken up on human-rights issues in other parts of the world. — Georgi Kantchev, WSJ, 23 Jan. 2022 This quiet-running progressive resistance bike trainer that offers a road-like feel is once again our top choice for the best model. — Allen Foster, chicagotribune.com, 25 Sep. 2020 The Stadio San Paolo, Napoli's famed crumbling colosseum, erupted as Mertens headed home from Adrian's save, only to fall quiet after seeing the linesman's flag raised for an obvious offside. — Matias Grez, CNN, 17 Sep. 2019 Then, at some random moment, the atom goes quiet, signaling that the atom has entered the dark state. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 5 June 2019 When the sun is up, the city center is crowded, but the streets empty as night falls, quiet except for the occasional sound of gunfire and rockets exploding on the outskirts of town. — Najim Rahim, David Jolly And Ahmad Shakib, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2016 The boat goes quiet except for the occasional flap of the sail. — Chris Jones, Esquire, 15 Sep. 2010 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb At night, lights along the valley climb the slopes of the back hills to quiet residential sections, while along the river, steel converters redden the sky. — cleveland, 30 Dec. 2021 There was the poster on Boston superstar Jayson Tatum, when Brissett threw down a two-handed and-one slam to quiet a raucous crowd at TD Garden. — James Boyd, The Indianapolis Star, 29 Apr. 2022 Time and success have helped quiet those questions as Walden’s world has begun to hum with buzzy shows. — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 28 Apr. 2022 Shaffer: DeCosta, if only to quiet the growing narrative around his draft results — a narrative that conveniently ignores his hands-on contributions to the Ravens’ more successful classes. — Baltimore Sun, 27 Apr. 2022 Eventually the two of them bade me farewell and walked arm in arm through the vast midway, enjoying the peace and quiet one last time before the gates opened and the carnival began. — David Hill, Harper’s Magazine , 27 Apr. 2022 The teacher, played by a Black actor, tries to quiet MacDonald down, waving his arms and wordlessly shouting. — Alice Hines, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2022 Blending vintage furnishings with eclectic artwork, the 38 villa rooms and quiet three pools here make for a modern retreat. — Anna Haines, Forbes, 26 Apr. 2022 After the eighth inning, Cabrera pointed at the scoreboard and signaled to the crowd to quiet their negative reaction, and while most fans listened to the Tigers great, some continued to taunt Boone and the Yankees. — Evan Petzold, USA TODAY, 22 Apr. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'quiet.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of quiet

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Adverb

1573, in the meaning defined above

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

History and Etymology for quiet

Noun

Middle English quiet, quiete, borrowed from Anglo-French quiete, borrowed from Latin quiēt-, quiēs "repose, sleep, rest, peaceful conditions," going back to Indo-European *k^wi̯eh₁-ti-, noun derivative of a verbal base *k^wi̯eh₁- "have a rest," whence Avestan š́iiā- "be glad," Old Church Slavic počijǫ, počiti "to have a rest" (causative pokojǫ, pokoiti "to calm, quiet"), Armenian hangeaw "has rested," and (from deverbal *k^wi̯eh₁-to-) Avestan š́iiāta- "peaceful, happy," Old Persian šiyāta-, Latin quiētus "at rest, quiet entry 2"

Adjective

Middle English quyet, quyete, quiete, borrowed from Anglo-French & Middle French quiete, borrowed from Latin quiētus "at rest, inactive, peaceful" — more at quiet entry 1

Adverb

derivative of quiet entry 2

Verb

Middle English quieten, borrowed from Late Latin quiētāre "to become quiet, make quiet, put to rest," derivative of Latin quiētus "at rest, quiet entry 2"

Learn More About quiet

Dictionary Entries Near quiet

quiescent

quiet

quiet day

Statistics for quiet

Last Updated

14 May 2022

Cite this Entry

“Quiet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quiet. Accessed 26 May. 2022.

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More Definitions for quiet

quiet

noun

qui·et | \ ˈkwī-ət

Kids Definition of quiet

(Entry 1 of 4)

: the quality or state of being calm or without noise Can we please have some quiet?

quiet

adjective

quieter; quietest

Kids Definition of quiet (Entry 2 of 4)

1 : free from noise or uproar One step, two steps, onward they went … down that long, long quiet room.— Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

2 : marked by little or no motion or activity : calm quiet seas

3 : not disturbed : peaceful a quiet lunch

4 : tending not to talk or show excitement much a quiet child a quiet disposition

5 : not shown in an obvious way quiet determination

6 : away from public view : secluded a quiet corner

quiet

adverb

Kids Definition of quiet (Entry 3 of 4)

: in a quiet manner : quietly The engine runs quiet.

quiet

verb

quieted; quieting

Kids Definition of quiet (Entry 4 of 4)

: to make or become calmer or less noisy She tried to quiet the crowd.

quiet

adjective

qui·et

Legal Definition of quiet

(Entry 1 of 2)

: free from disturbance, interference, or dispute (as from an adverse claim) quiet enjoyment of property

quiet

transitive verb

Legal Definition of quiet (Entry 2 of 2)

: to establish or make (title) secure by means of an action that produces a final determination of the respective rights of parties who are in dispute over property — compare cloud on title