keep mum

1. 1.

   refuse to talk or stop talking; fall silent

   “The children shut up when their father approached”

   Synonymsclose upclam updummy upshut upbelt upbutton upbe quiet

Questions about keep mum

What does keep mum mean?

keep mum means "refuse to talk or stop talking; fall silent".

What is another word for keep mum?

Close synonyms include close up, clam up, dummy up, shut up, belt up. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is keep mum a common word?

keep mum is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.