The Meaning of Quiet: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of quiet? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word quiet, including its definition, etymology, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What does the word quiet mean?

According to the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language as well as other dictionaries like American Heritage and Collins English Dictionary, the word quiet can be used as a noun, adjective or verb. As a noun, this word refers to a lack of sound or a secret manner. As an adjective, this word means free from noise or uproar, or making little or no noise, or someone or something that is calm or secluded. As a verb, this word means to silence or calm.  The pronunciation of quiet is ˈkwaɪət. Many things can be quiet, including a quiet disposition, quiet man, quiet reproach, quiet waters, quiet glade, quiet conscience, quiet means of doing something, a quiet day, quiet Sunday afternoon, quiet admonition, quiet humour, quiet neighbors, a quiet last week, quiet peace-loving people, a quiet throng of onlookers, quiet evening, or a quiet audience. One can add the suffixes er and est to make quieter and quietest, or ly to make quietly (adv.).

Many different languages also contain words that mean quiet. You may notice that some of these words look and sound similar to the word quiet. These are called cognates, which are words that mean the same thing as well as look and sound similar across languages. Cognates are often formed when two words have the same root, or when two languages share a common language of origin such as Latin or Greek. This list of translations for the word quiet is provided by Word Sense.

  •  Urdu: خاموش‎ (xāmoś)
  •  Dutch: stil‎, rustig‎, vredig‎, geruisloos‎, geluidloos‎
  •  Lithuanian: tylus‎
  •  Korean: 조용하다‎
  •  Finnish: hiljainen‎, äänetön‎
  •  Albanian: qetë‎
  •  Portuguese: quieto‎, silencioso‎
  •  Afrikaans: stil‎
  •  Macedonian: ти́вок‎, тих‎
  •  Occitan: silenciós‎
  •  Slovak: tichý‎
  •  Bashkir: шым‎, тыныс‎
  •  Venetian: chieto‎, chiet‎, cet‎, poxado‎, cucio‎
  •  Spanish: quieto‎, silencioso‎, tranquilo‎, calmo‎, pacífico‎, silente‎
  •  Ido: quieta‎
  •  Slovene: tih‎
  •  Punjabi: ਚੁੱਪ-ਚਾਪ‎ (chupp-chap)
  •  Belarusian: ці́хі‎
  •  Icelandic: hljóður‎
  •  Ukrainian: ти́хий‎
  •  Azeri: səssiz‎
  •  Galician: silencioso‎, silandeiro‎, calmo‎
  •  Jawi: ديام‎, سڽڤ‎
  •  Russian: ти́хий‎
  •  Czech: tichý‎
  •  Kyrgyz: тынч‎
  •  Bulgarian: тих‎
  •  Yiddish: שטיל‎
  •  Walloon: påjhire‎ (masc.) (f), påjhûle‎ (masc.) (f)
  •  Thai: เงียบ‎, นิ่ง‎, สงบ‎
  •  Estonian: vaikne‎
  •  Irish: ciúin‎
  •  Catalan: silenciós‎, tranquil‎
  •  Turkish: sessiz‎
  •  Swedish: tyst‎, stilla‎
  •  Danish: stille‎, tyst‎
  •  Roman: tih‎,
  •  German: still‎, ruhig‎, leise‎
  •  Hindi: ख़ामोश‎
  •  Sinhalese: නිශ්ශබ්ද‎
  •  Khmer: ស្ងាត់‎ (sngat)
  •  French: calme‎, silencieux‎
  •  Bengali: শান্ত‎
  •  Japanese: 静か‎
  •  Hebrew: שֶׁקֶט‎ (shakét)
  •  Lower Sorbian: śichy‎
  •  Lao: ງຽບ‎, ຈ້ອຽ‎
  •  Malay: diam‎, senyap‎
  •  Kazakh: тыныш‎
  •  Interlingua: quiete‎
  •  Latvian: kluss‎
  •  Hungarian: csendes‎
  •  Sorani: هێمن‎, وسکت‎
  •  Polish: cichy‎ (masc.)
  •  Esperanto: trankvila‎
  •  Greek: ήρεμος‎, σιγανός‎, σιωπηλός‎
  •  Mongolian: тайван‎, тогтуун‎
  •  Norwegian: stille‎
  •  Uzbek: tinch‎
  •  Friulian: cuiet‎, cujet‎
  •  Latin: tranquillus‎
  •  Armenian: հանգիստ‎
  •  Sicilian: cuetu‎, quetu‎
  •  Romanian: încet‎, liniștit‎, silențios‎
  •  Telugu: నిశ్శబ్దం‎
  •  Cherokee: ᎡᎷᏪᎢ‎
  •  Chamicuro: chkesi‎
  •  Italian: quieto‎, silenzioso‎
  •  Mandarin: 安靜‎, 安静‎ (ānjìng), 寧靜‎, 宁静‎ (níngjìng)
  •  Georgian: ხმადაბალი‎, ჩუმი‎
  •  Cyrillic: тих‎
  •  Maori: māika‎, hū‎
  •  Marathi: शांत‎
  •  Persian: خاموش‎ (xâmuš), آرام‎ (ârâm), کم صدا‎ (kam sedâ)
  •  Arabic: صَامِت‎, هَادِئ‎
  •  Turkmen: ýuwaş‎, sessiz‎
  •  Tajik: паст‎
  •  Scottish Gaelic: sèimh‎, sàmhach‎, socair‎, ciùin‎
  •  Kurdish:
  •  Asturian: quietu‎, silenciosu‎
  •  Vietnamese: yên tĩnh‎ (安靜‎), im lặng‎ (of a person)
  •  Volapük: stilik‎
  •  Burmese: ဆိတ်‎

What is the origin of the word quiet?

According to Etymonline, the word quiet has been used as a noun since Middle English in 1300, and as a verb and adjective since the late 14th century. These all come from the Middle French quiete and Old French quiet as well as the Latin quies and Latin quiētus or Latin quietus/quietis. These come from the Proto-Indo-European roots kweie meaning to rest or be quiet.

How can quiet be used in a sentence?

The word quiet can be used in many different ways. Below are examples of quiet.

The body of water on the western front was met with quiet from the onlookers. The heavy waves crashed onto the low level of surface of the sand, lulling the beachgoers to sleep.

The teacher spoke a quiet word to the student in the hallway, but it was full of tumult and emotions. She was upset at the disturbance he caused, and made him promise to continue on in class in an unobtrusive way.

It’s quiet tonight. I enjoy watching the stars and solar flares on a quiet night like this. I love astronomy – if you look closely, you can see a low number of sunspots through the telescope.

The disturbing sound interrupted the quiet absence of agitation in the yoga class. The students went outside at the sound of the alarm.

The quiet factions of the school were largely ignored. It did not matter if there was a pretentiousness to them or if there was an absence of work completed on their behalf, they went on unnoticed.

The absence of turbulent motion on the quiet flight allowed all the passengers to drift to sleep. Any impatience or frustration from the airport was relieved by the quiet flight.

She had a quiet Monday morning off. She cleaned up the beers from the night before, drank coffee, and read her new book Dragons of Worry.

She decided to keep quiet about her new promotion on Facebook – she didn’t want her family asking her for money.

What are synonyms and antonyms for quiet?

There are many different words and phrases that mean the same thing as the word quiet. These are called synonyms. Synonyms are a very useful English grammatical device to know because they can help people avoid repeating themselves in written work and conversation as well as expanding their vocabulary. This list of synonyms for the word quiet is provided by Thesaurus.

  •  muted
  •  peaceful
  •  reticent
  •  silent
  •  soft
  •  close
  •  hushed
  •  repose
  •  low
  •  muffled
  •  mute
  •  quieted
  •  reserved
  •  still
  •  stilled
  •  whist
  •  buttoned up
  •  clammed up
  •  close-mouthed
  •  could hear a pin drop
  •  dumb
  •  hushful
  •  inaudible
  •  low-pitched
  •  noiseless
  •  not saying boo
  •  quiescent
  •  secretive
  •  soundless
  •  speechless
  •  taciturn
  •  tight-lipped
  •  uncommunicative
  •  unexpressed
  •  unspeaking
  •  unuttered

There are also many different words and phrases that mean the opposite of the word quiet. These opposite words are called antonyms. Antonyms are another useful English language device to know because they are a simple way to improve your vocabulary. This list of antonyms for the word quiet is also provided by Thesaurus

  •  turned up
  •  vociferous
  •  big
  •  fulminating
  •  crashing
  •  tumultuous
  •  wakes the dead
  •  full-mouthed
  •  ringing
  •  forte
  •  strong
  •  resounding
  •  emphatic
  •  uproarious
  •  turbulent
  •  stentorian
  •  high-sounding
  •  sonorous
  •  blustering
  •  ear-piercing
  •  heavy
  •  roaring
  •  thundering
  •  cacophonous
  •  pealing
  •  resonant
  •  raucous
  •  strident
  •  ear-splitting
  •  loud-voiced
  •  booming
  •  boisterous
  •  clamorous
  •  full
  •  blaring
  •  blatant
  •  rambunctious
  •  deep
  •  powerful

What are synonyms and antonyms for quiet?

There are many different words and phrases that mean the same thing as the word quiet. These are called synonyms. Synonyms are a very useful English grammatical device to know because they can help people avoid repeating themselves in written work and conversation as well as expanding their vocabulary. This list of synonyms for the word quiet is provided by Thesaurus.

  •  muted
  •  peaceful
  •  reticent
  •  silent
  •  soft
  •  close
  •  hushed
  •  low
  •  muffled
  •  mute
  •  quieted
  •  reserved
  •  still
  •  stilled
  •  whist
  •  buttoned up
  •  clammed up
  •  close-mouthed
  •  could hear a pin drop
  •  dumb
  •  hushful
  •  inaudible
  •  low-pitched
  •  noiseless
  •  not saying boo
  •  quiescent
  •  secretive
  •  soundless
  •  speechless
  •  taciturn
  •  tight-lipped
  •  uncommunicative
  •  unexpressed
  •  unspeaking
  •  unuttered

There are also many different words and phrases that mean the opposite of the word quiet. These opposite words are called antonyms. Antonyms are another useful English language device to know because they are a simple way to improve your vocabulary. This list of antonyms for the word quiet is also provided by Thesaurus

  •  turned up
  •  vociferous
  •  big
  •  fulminating
  •  crashing
  •  tumultuous
  •  wakes the dead
  •  full-mouthed
  •  ringing
  •  forte
  •  strong
  •  resounding
  •  emphatic
  •  uproarious
  •  turbulent
  •  stentorian
  •  high-sounding
  •  sonorous
  •  blustering
  •  ear-piercing
  •  heavy
  •  roaring
  •  thundering
  •  cacophonous
  •  pealing
  •  resonant
  •  raucous
  •  strident
  •  ear-splitting
  •  loud-voiced
  •  booming
  •  boisterous
  •  clamorous
  •  full
  •  blaring
  •  blatant
  •  rambunctious
  •  deep
  •  powerful
  •  vehement
  •  rowdy
  •  noisy
  •  lusty
  •  piercing
  •  deafening
  •  obstreperous
  •  intense
  •  loud
  •  vehement
  •  rowdy
  •  noisy
  •  lusty
  •  piercing
  •  deafening
  •  obstreperous
  •  intense
  •  loud

Overall, the word quiet (adj.) refers to the absence of noise, offense or disorder. Something that makes lots of noise like a lively plaza or rock star audience at a concert  is not quiet. Something that is quiet might be at a state of rest, free of distractions, vigorous activity, or unwanted sound. Things that are quiet are in a peaceful condition of affairs.

Sources:

  1. quiet: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense 
  2. LOUD Synonyms: 102 Synonyms & Antonyms for LOUD | Thesaurus 
  3. QUIET Synonyms: 231 Synonyms & Antonyms for QUIET | Thesaurus 
  4. quiet | Origin and meaning of quiet | Online Etymology Dictionary 
  5. Quiet | Definition of Quiet | Merriam-Webster