CLAMMED UP Synonyms: 22 Similar and Opposite Words

clammed up

verb

past tense of clam up

as in hushed

to stop talking the little girl clammed up when the doctor came into the room

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of clammed up Anyone asked by local or national media over the past few months if they’d been invited to the nuptials clammed up quickly. — Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 2 July 2026 On Israel, a lot of candidates have clammed up. — Naaman Zhou, New Yorker, 22 June 2026 The Arrested Development actor clammed up when Smartless cohost Jason Bateman brought up Arnett's ex-wife and their bathroom habits. — Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 22 June 2026 The atmosphere had changed—security kept an eye out for media to turn away at the entrance, and golfers clammed up when asked what was going on at the club. — Dan Alexander, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026 Everyone in the theater clammed up, as if embarrassed to have endorsed Max with laughter. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2026 But when co-host Maria McErlane looked for details, Norton clammed up. — Joseph Wilkinson, Mercury News, 28 Jan. 2026 The famously outgoing media personality clammed up, on air and off, thanks to a terrifying stranger. — Ross Raihala, Twin Cities, 7 Dec. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for clammed up

Verb

Salesforce has clearly hushed the skeptics on Wednesday night.

— Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2026
The impact is lavish yet hushed; welcoming yet sharply articulated.

— Genevieve Walker, Architectural Digest, 2 Aug. 2026

Definition of hushed

Verb

But the payments dried up in March 2026, and by April, MGM Excavating was off the job and owed nearly $4 million, much of which was earmarked for its subcontractors.

— Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 27 Aug. 2026
That’s because New Mexico has been hammered by persistent drought, and large swaths of the Rio Grande have dried up in the central part of the state.

— Will Weissert, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of dried up

Verb

Commentators hungry for superstar validation of their culture war were calling her silence a moral failure, and some of them were the same people who, in previous news cycles, had insisted that athletes needed to shut up.

— Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
Ferragosto on August 15 is when all Italians down tools, shut up shop, and head for the coast.

— Catherine Fairweather, Air Mail, 15 Aug. 2026

Definition of shut up

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clammed

clammed up

clamminess

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“Clammed up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clammed%20up. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of clammed up

verb

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