different between somewhat vs quiet

English

Alternative forms

• (British, dialectal) summat (and variants listed there)

Etymology

some +? what

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?mw?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s?mw?t/
• Hyphenation: some?what
• Rhymes: -?t

Adverb

somewhat (not comparable)

1. (degree) To a limited extent or degree.

Translations

See also

• slightly

Pronoun

somewhat

1. (archaic) Something.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.12:

     Proceeding to the midst he stil did stand, / As if in minde he somewhat had to say […].

   • a. 1716, Robert Trail, sermon on the Lord's Prayer

     But this text and theme I am upon, relates to somewhat far higher and greater, than all the beholdings of his glory that ever any saint on earth received.

Translations

Noun

somewhat (countable and uncountable, plural somewhats)

1. More or less; a certain quantity or degree; a part, more or less; something.
   • 1682, Nehemiah Grew, Anatomy of Plants

     its taste, which is plainly acid, and somewhat rough

   • Somewhat of his good sense will suffer, in this transfusion, and much of the beauty of his thoughts will be lost.

   • To these ladies a man often recommends himself while he is commending another woman; and, while he is expressing ardour and generous sentiments for his mistress, they are considering what a charming lover this man would make to them, who can feel all this tenderness for an inferior degree of merit. Of this, strange as it may seem, I have seen many instances besides Mrs Fitzpatrick, to whom all this really happened, and who now began to feel a somewhat for Mr Jones, the symptoms of which she much sooner understood than poor Sophia had formerly done.

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 558:

     Then they set somewhat of food before me, whereof I ate my fill, and gave me somewhat of clothes wherewith I clad myself anew and covered my nakedness; after which they took me up into the ship, […]

2. A person or thing of importance; a somebody.
   • c. 1810-1820, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Troilus and Cressida

     Pity that the researchful notary has not either told us in what century, and of what history, he was a writer, or been simply content to depose, that Lollius, if a writer of that name existed at all, was a somewhat somewhere.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites

     Here come those that worship me? Ha! ha! / They think that I am somewhat.

English

Etymology

From Middle English quiete, from Old French quiet (adjective) and quiete (noun), from Latin qui?tus, past participle of qui?scere (“to keep quiet, rest”). Doublet of coy and quietus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kw?'?t, IPA^(key): /?kwa?.?t/
• (weak vowel merger) enPR: kw?'?t, IPA^(key): /?kwa?.?t/
• Rhymes: -a??t

Adjective

quiet (comparative quieter or more quiet, superlative quietest or most quiet)

1. With little or no sound; free of disturbing noise.

2. Having little motion or activity; calm.

3. Not busy, of low quantity.

4. Not talking much or not talking loudly; reserved.

5. Not showy; undemonstrative.

6. (software) Requiring little or no interaction.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:quiet.

Synonyms

• (with little sound): See also Thesaurus:silent
• (having little motion): See also Thesaurus:calm
• (not busy): slow, unbusy
• (not talking): See also Thesaurus:taciturn
• (not showy): modest, plain, simple

Antonyms

• loud
• sounded
• vocal

Translations

Verb

quiet (third-person singular simple present quiets, present participle quieting, simple past and past participle quieted)

1. To become quiet, silent, still, tranquil, calm.

   Synonyms: quiet down, quieten

2. To cause someone to become quiet.

   Synonyms: quiet down, quieten

Translations

Noun

quiet (plural quiets)

1. The absence of sound; quietness.

2. the absence of movement; stillness, tranquility

Translations

Interjection

quiet

1. Be quiet.

Related terms

Further reading

• quiet in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• quiet in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• quiet at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “quiet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• quite

Catalan

Etymology

First attested 1490. From Latin qui?tus, in this form probably a borrowing or a semi-learned term; cf. also the Old Catalan form quet, queda, which was likely inherited.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /ki??t/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ki??t/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ki?et/

Adjective

quiet (feminine quieta, masculine plural quiets, feminine plural quietes)

1. calm, stopped
2. quiet

Synonyms

• aturat
• detingut

Related terms

• quedar

Copallén

Noun

quiet

1. water

References

• Willem F. H. Adelaar, The Languages of the Andes

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin qui?tus, from qui?s (“rest”). Doublet of coi, which was inherited, and quitte, another borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kj?/

Adjective

quiet (feminine singular quiète, masculine plural quiets, feminine plural quiètes)

1. (rare, literary) calm, quiet, peaceful, at ease

Synonyms

• See calme

Related terms

• quiétude

Usage notes

Its antonym inquiet is much more common.

Further reading

• “quiet” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin qui?tus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?kjet]

Adjective

quiet m (feminine singular quieta, masculine plural quiets, feminine plural quietas)

1. calm, stopped
2. quiet

Synonyms

• suau
• tranquil