keeping mum
Not saying anything
Keeping mum means staying silent, especially about something you know but choose not to reveal.
Mum here is an old word for silent, unrelated to the British term for mother.
Someone keeps mum to avoid trouble, protect a secret, or stay out of others' business: She's keeping mum about who told her.
I'd keep mum if I were you.
- silentProducing no sound
- say nothingRefrain from speaking
- quietLacking in sound
- hushAbsence of sound
- secretConcealed information
under wraps · tight-lipped · discreet · hushed · whisper · lips sealed · confidential · sworn · unspoken · not a word · stillness · reticent · taciturn · wordless · bite your tongue · hold your tongue · closemouthed · zip it
- silencequiet, silent, mute, hush, stillness
- Biting Your Tonguestaying quiet, holding back, zipping lips, silence
- suppressionrepression, inhibition, restraint, silencing, muzzling
- emotional maskingmasking, suppression, repression, hiding, bottling up
keeping mumspilling the beans
Disclosing confidential information
speaking up · blabbing · revealing · talking · disclosing
keeping mumgossiping
Talking about absent people
tattling · spreading rumors · leaking · snitching · telling tales
keep, keeps, kept, keeper, keepers, keeping, upkeep, safekeeping, mum