ENGLISH
REFERENCE

hush up

phr. v..
C1 Advanced Oxford Informal

phr. v.. to stop people from talking about something bad or embarrassing so it stays a secret.

phr. v.. to suppress information or prevent public knowledge of a scandal or mistake; often implies a deliberate, sometimes dishonest, effort to maintain secrecy.


SIMPLE

The company tried to hush up the accident.

CONTEXTUAL

The politician's team worked quickly to hush up the story before the election began.

COMPLEX

Despite their attempts to hush up the financial discrepancy, an internal whistleblower eventually leaked the documents to the press.

Particles
up
Separability
optional
Pattern
hush + up + object
Usage

usually takes a noun phrase representing a scandal, mistake, or secret as its object.

Teaching tip

contrast with 'cover up', which often implies hiding physical evidence, whereas 'hush up' focuses on silencing talk and rumors.

Pitfall

They hushed the secret up.They hushed up the secret.While technically separable, 'hush up' is most commonly used with the object following the particle, especially for abstract nouns.

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