hush money
Payment for silence
Hush money is payment made to keep someone quiet—typically to prevent them from revealing embarrassing, incriminating, or damaging information.
The term implies secrecy and often illegality, suggesting the payer has something to hide: The company paid hush money to keep the scandal out of the papers.
Hush money figures prominently in blackmail, cover-ups, and political scandals.
- bribeIllicit payment for favor
- kickbackIllegal payment for services
- payoffCulminating benefit received
- paid offYielded a positive result
- graftIllicit political gain
shakedown · corruption · off the books · backhander · extortion · fixer · slush fund · settlement · concealment · suppression · keep quiet · blackmail · catch and kill · cover-up · influence peddling · non-disclosure agreement · silence · whistleblowing
- financial fraudsecurities fraud, bank fraud, accounting fraud, defalcation, embezzler
- secrecysecrecy, secret, secrets, confidential, classified
- wrongdoingmisconduct, crime, sabotage, crimes, misbehavior
- corruptioncorruption, graft, kickbacks, bribery, bribes
- Money Gainsbonus, salary, wage, tip, tips
- scandalscandal, infamy, disgrace, coverup, cover-up
hush moneylegal settlement
Negotiated dispute resolution
merit pay · honorarium · prize money · award · merit bonus
money, hush, hushed, monetary, hushing, moneymaking, monies, moneymaker, monetize