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Hush vs Hiss - What's the difference?

hush | hiss |

In intransitive terms the difference between hush and hiss

is that hush is to become quiet while hiss is to make a hissing sound.

In transitive terms the difference between hush and hiss

is that hush is to appease; to allay; to soothe while hiss is to utter with a hissing sound.

hush

English

Verb

(es)
  • to become quiet
  • to make quiet
  • To appease; to allay; to soothe.
  • * Otway
    • Wilt thou, then, Hush my cares?
  • * Tennyson
    • And hush'd my deepest grief of all.

    Noun

    (-)
  • A silence, especially after some noise
  • * Byron
    • It is the hush of night.
    (Byron)
  • A mining method using water

    • Derived terms

    * hush money * hush puppy * hush up * hushaby * husher * hushful * hush-hire * hush-hush * hush-shop English ergative verbs ----

    hiss

    English

    Noun

    (es)
  • A high-pitched sound made by a snake, cat, escaping steam, etc.
  • An expression of disapproval made to sound like the noise of a snake.

    • Verb

  • To make a hissing sound.
    • As I started to poke it, the snake hissed at me.
    The arrow hissed through the air.
  • * Wordsworth
    • Shod with steel, / We hissed along the polished ice.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=John Elkington , title=John Elkington , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=It turns out that the driver of the red Ferrari that caused the crash wasn't, as I first guessed, a youngster, but a 60-year-old. Clearly, he had energy to spare, which was more than could be said about a panel I listened to around the same time as the crash. Indeed, someone hissed in my ear during a First Magazine awards ceremony in London's imposing Marlborough House on 7 December: "What we need is more old white men on the stage."}}
  • To condemn or express contempt for by hissing.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel xxvii. 36
    • The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee.
  • * Shakespeare
    • if the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them
  • To utter with a hissing sound.
  • * Tennyson
    • the long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise