quieter


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qui·et

 (kwī′ĭt)
adj. qui·et·er, qui·et·est
1. Making or characterized by little or no noise: a quiet library; a quiet street; a quiet, well tuned engine.
2.
a. Free of turmoil and agitation; calm: a quiet lake; a quiet place in the country.
b. Providing or allowing relaxation; restful; soothing: a quiet afternoon nap; a quiet tune on the flute.
3. Not showy or bright; subdued: a room decorated in quiet colors.
4. Restrained, as in style; understated: a quiet strength; a quiet life.
5. Out of public scrutiny; known or discussed by few: wanted to keep the incident quiet until after the election.
n.
The quality or condition of being quiet: "A menacing quiet fills the empty streets" (Time).
v. qui·et·ed, qui·et·ing, qui·ets
v.tr.
1. To cause to become quiet: The teacher quieted the students.
2. To make (a title) secure by freeing from uncertainties or adverse claims as to the ownership.
v.intr.
To become quiet: The child wouldn't quiet down for me.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin quiētus, past participle of quiēscere, to rest; see kweiə- in Indo-European roots.]

qui′et·ly adv.
qui′et·ness n.
Synonyms: quiet, silent, still1, noiseless, soundless
These adjectives mean marked by or making no sound, noise, or movement. Quiet suggests the absence of bustle, tumult, or agitation: "life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few" (John Ruskin).
Silent can suggest a profound hush: "I like the silent church before the service begins" (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
Still implies lack of motion or disturbance and often connotes rest or tranquility: "But after tempest ... / There came a day as still as heaven" (Tennyson).
Noiseless and soundless imply the absence of disturbing sound: "th' inaudible and noiseless foot of time" (Shakespeare)."the soundless footsteps on the grass" (John Galsworthy).
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
When he had become a little quieter, he explained to Rostov that he was living with his mother, who, if she saw him dying, would not survive it.
At first my anguish was extreme, but now I am quieter. What awaits me I know not.
Wilcox, if quieter than in Germany, is sweeter than ever, and I never saw anything like her steady unselfishness, and the best of it is that the others do not take advantage of her.
I went back to Magdalen, and found her quieter and better, though terribly pale and exhausted, and oppressed, as I fancied, by thoughts which she could not prevail on herself to communicate.
When I trotted, I rattled like a crate of dishes, and that annoyed me; and moreover I couldn't seem to stand that shield slatting and banging, now about my breast, now around my back; and if I dropped into a walk my joints creaked and screeched in that wearisome way that a wheelbarrow does, and as we didn't create any breeze at that gait, I was like to get fried in that stove; and besides, the quieter you went the heavier the iron set- tled down on you and the more and more tons you seemed to weigh every minute.
Jane was as much gratified by this as her mother could be, though in a quieter way.
In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or five-pound weight I should imagine.
Only when he stood by her head, she was suddenly quieter, while the muscles quivered under her soft, delicate coat.
He only knew that the valley seemed to grow quieter and quieter as he sat and stared at the bright delicate blueness.
It embarrassed her; for in a cooler, quieter moment it appeared to her, absurd that she should have taken his action so seriously, so dramatically.
A licence will be quieter for us, and I have decided on a licence without consulting you.
"Next morning I went out for a stroll through the town," continued the prince, so soon as Rogojin was a little quieter, though his laughter still burst out at intervals, "and soon observed a drunken-looking soldier staggering about the pavement.