quieten

«quieten» in Mova's school dictionary: To become quiet or calmer: «The class quietened when the… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

verb (quieten, quietens, quietened, quietening; often «quieten down») — UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ

meaning for a pupil

1) To become quiet or calmer: «The class quietened when the head came in.» tree →

2) To make someone or something quiet or calm: «She quietened the crying baby.» tree →

3) To make worries or fears less strong: «quieten your fears». tree →

sense in the lessons

In school and everyday life teachers ask a class to quieten down; in stories, quietening shows calm after noise or panic. Phrases: «quieten down», «quieten a crowd», «things quietened».

examples

• Quieten down, everyone, the film is starting. tree →
• The wind quietened after midnight. tree →
• Dad sang to quieten the baby. tree →
• The streets quietened when the shops closed. tree →
• Taking deep breaths can quieten your worries. tree →
• The crowd quietened as the singer walked on stage. tree →

note

British and Commonwealth word; American English usually says «quiet down» (quiet as a verb). Spelling: quieten, quietened (no double n). Do not confuse «quiet» (no noise) with «quite» (fairly).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «quieten» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.