quash

/kwɔʃ/

/kwɔʃ/

Other forms: quashed; quashing; quashes

Quash means to put down, stop, extinguish, and it’s usually used to talk about ideas, feelings, or political movements. You wouldn’t quash a grape underfoot; you would squash it. But if you were a military dictator, you would quash a revolution.

Quash is an extreme word. It comes from the French word for smash, or shatter. If something is quashed it is completely suppressed, usually by something or someone very powerful or authoritative. If you wrote a poem and asked your favorite teacher to read it, and that teacher tore it to pieces, then your hopes were most likely quashed.

Definitions of quash

1. verb

   declare invalid
   synonyms: annihilate, annul, avoid, invalidate, nullify, void

   types:

   break

   invalidate by judicial action

   stet

   printing: cancel, as of a correction or deletion

   type of:

   cancel, strike down

   declare null and void; make ineffective
2. verb

   put down by force or intimidation
   “The government quashes any attempt of an uprising”

   synonyms: keep down, reduce, repress, subdue, subjugate

   type of:

   crush, oppress, suppress

   come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority