Definition

Noun: * A sum of money paid to someone, typically as a bribe, to ensure their silence or to prevent them from revealing secret or potentially damaging information.

Usage

• The term is used to describe a specific type of illicit payment made with the explicit purpose of buying secrecy. It implies wrongdoing or a scandal that the payer wishes to conceal.
• It is commonly used in legal, journalistic, and political contexts.
• It functions as a non-count (mass) noun. You do not say "a hush money" or "hush moneys." You refer to an amount or instance of it (e.g., "a payment of hush money," "the hush money").

Examples

• The company was accused of paying hush money to the whistleblower to prevent the story from reaching the media.
• The prosecutor argued that the funds were not a legal settlement but were, in fact, hush money.
• He received a large sum in hush money to keep quiet about the affair.

Advanced Usage

• The phrase can be used attributively (like an adjective) before another noun.
  • The investigation focused on the hush-money payment and its source.
  • They were involved in a hush-money scandal.

Variants and Related Words

• Payoff (noun): A payment, especially a bribe.
• Bribe (noun): Money or favor given to influence someone's conduct or judgment.
• Conscience money (noun): Money paid to relieve guilt, often anonymously, but not specifically for silence.
• To buy someone's silence (verb phrase): The action described by the noun "hush money."

Synonyms

• Bribe
• Payoff
• Bribery payment
• Silence money

Related Idioms and Phrases

• To hush something up: To prevent information from becoming publicly known; to conceal a scandal.
  • The organization tried to hush up the accident, which led to allegations of hush money being paid.
• To grease someone's palm: To bribe someone.
  • It was suspected they had to grease a few palms with hush money to get the permits.

Noun

1. a bribe paid to someone to insure that something is kept secret