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quelling

verb

present participle of quell
1
as in subduing
to put a stop to (something) by the use of force the National Guard was called in to help quell the late-night disturbances downtown

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in shushing
to stop the noise or speech of the principal held up her hand to quell the students so they could hear the urgent announcement

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of quelling The break with Callaway was the first sign that Good Good’s attempts at quelling the crisis were not going well after Clark’s statement on social media Wednesday night. — Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026 As Matt Reeves is hard at work in Gotham City, James Gunn is quelling some overeager fans about the timeline of the Batman trilogy. — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 6 Aug. 2026 Aside from Spain’s progress in quelling the fires this week, there are still active fires in France to consider, since the particulate matter could continue drifting across large portions of its neighboring nation. — T. Michelle Murphy, Time, 29 July 2026 Other ubiquitous Chinese deities, such as the regal Jade Emperor, the faithful warrior Guan Yu, the wondrous savior Mazu, and the demon-quelling Zhong Kui, fill both the popular imagination and the stuff of Daoist ritual. — Michael Naparstek, The Conversation, 6 July 2026 The very system itself - schooling and parenting - now operates on quelling agency. — Mimosa Jones Tunney, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026 The mosquitoes came out in droves at night, just before bed, quelling our ambitions of stargazing or watching for the northern lights. — John Bowe, Travel + Leisure, 11 June 2026 Owens, who tried to reach third, was gunned down by left fielder Brendan Brock, quelling the early threat. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 7 June 2026 Also quelling demand is China’s pivot toward producing chemicals from raw materials like coal instead of oil, according to analysts. — Devika Krishna Kumar, Fortune, 6 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quelling
  1. subduing
  2. shushing
  3. suppressing
  4. quieting
  5. repressing
  6. silencing
  7. crushing
  8. muting
Verb
  • Beer that was fresh, full of flavor and aroma, and hadn’t traveled hundreds of miles or been pasteurized subduing the bright flavors.
    — Blaine Callahan, Hartford Courant, 7 Sep. 2026
  • The drones rip through the hallways scanning for a threat before disorienting a suspect using flashing lights and subduing them using pepper balls or by ramming into their body, the company says.
    — Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of subduing
Verb
  • Trae Young won Madison Square Garden’s undying enmity in the 2021 playoffs for the Atlanta Hawks, punctuating game-breaking shots by shushing the crowd or bowing to the fans and waving goodbye.
    — Leah Asmelash, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
  • Wine country with kids in tow doesn’t have to mean a stressful afternoon of shushing and screen time.
    — Lauren Schuster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 June 2026
Definition of shushing
Verb
  • In fact, El Nino is directly responsible for suppressing Atlantic hurricanes, and guess what?
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Other immune-suppressing medicines for serious systemic disease can include CellCept (mycophenolate), Azasan (azathioprine), or cyclophosphamide.
    — Julie Scott, Verywell Health, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of suppressing
Verb
  • Patrick Mahomes finished the job by scrambling up the middle, simultaneously giving the Chiefs an early lead and quieting some doubts about his reconstructed ACL and LCL.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Use the words that suit the tone of the piece, and that might mean quieting your inner voice, or the voice of your mother.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of quieting
Verb
  • When elites are strong, dictators need to accommodate them, often by repressing outsiders to shield insiders from potential challenges.
    — José Kaire, The Conversation, 17 July 2026
  • Normally, this modifier gene suppresses the creation of a second kind of hemoglobin, typically made only during fetal development; repressing the gene prompts cells to start making the fetal form of hemoglobin again, which acts as a backup.
    — Roxanne Khamsi, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026
Definition of repressing
Verb
  • Williams departed with a right hamstring injury midway through the fourth quarter, silencing a drenched crowd of 58,914 at Soldier Field.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Those findings should not be reduced to one group silencing the other.
    — Liam Julian, Baltimore Sun, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of silencing
Verb
  • Oakley and Reid lean so heavily into Elinor and Marianne’s crushing disappointments and the forces holding them back in a period of vast gender inequity, that their sorrows shove the characters’ more captivating qualities to the side.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Merz quashed talk within the press and his own party about his possible resignation despite Sunday's losses for his party just two weeks after a crushing defeat in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
    — Esme Nicholson, NPR, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of crushing
Verb
  • Among several solutions such as time limits and muting notifications during certain hours, the changes include giving teens the option to choose to view a non-algorithmic social media feed that isn’t personalized.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • During the third act, in a cunning effect, when anyone picks up a phone, the screen’s contents are displayed on a wall as the lights fade, muting the friends onstage.
    — Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 9 July 2026
Definition of muting

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quelling
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Cite this Entry

“Quelling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quelling. Accessed 24 Sep. 2026.

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