shut up

verb

shut up; shutting up; shuts up

transitive verb

: to cause (someone) to stop talking, laughing, etc. : to quiet (a person or animal)

My mother brought me a batch of cookies from the storeroom to shut me up.

—Don Asher

… she had a neighbor who would text her after the first few barks: "Can you shut your dog up?"

—Hannah Fry

Connor McDavid didn't just answer his critics last Thursday—he shut them up with a hat trick and a reminder of what happens when the best player in the world decides he's had enough.

—Jim Parsons

intransitive verb

1

: to stop talking, laughing, etc.

My friends and family are sick to death of hearing me talk about Paris. … What I won't shut up about is the food.

—Matt Davidson

Mikel clapped his hands like a gunshot. The birds shut up.

—Joe Fiorito

—often used as an imperative

Shut up so I can hear the TV.

also : to stop writing

They want all of their journalists to just shut up and stop posting online.

—Joan Donovan

2

—used interjectionally to express surprise or shock

Shut up! That's amazing! Congratulations!!!

—@windog, on X, formerly Twitter

Synonyms of shut up

• dry up
• hush
• clam up
• quiet (down)
• belt up

Examples of shut up in a Sentence

you have no right to tell the rest of us to shut up

nothing I said would shut them up

Recent Examples on the Web

Ferragosto on August 15 is when all Italians down tools, shut up shop, and head for the coast. — Catherine Fairweather, Air Mail, 15 Aug. 2026

Layoffs in the gaming industry have seen almost 60,000 roles cut worldwide since 2022; multiple studios and publishers have shut up shop for good. — David Prosser, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

Doing it with 10 men against Mexico or in the closing stages against Norway is one thing; trying to shut up shop against a team with Argentina’s firepower for more than half an hour was an act of self sabotage. — The Athletic Uk Staff, New York Times, 16 July 2026

Any advice on how to tune out ignorant neighbors who refuse to shut up? — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 15 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for shut up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

shut up

verb

1

: to cause a person to stop talking

2

: to stop writing or speaking