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Synonyms

clam up

British  

verb

  1. informal (intr, adverb) to keep or become silent or withhold information

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
clam up Idioms  

  1. Refuse to talk or respond, as in Whenever she asks her teenager about his activities, he clams up. This term alludes to the tightly closed valves of a live clam. [Slang; early 1900s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The question prompts Epstein to clam up: “Send me a number to call I don’t like records of these conversations.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

Parton: They clam up because I won’t shut up.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2023

JPMorgan said an important part of its more positive view on European CRE was the willingness of European banks to continue providing finance to the sector as wholesale funding markets have started to clam up.

From Reuters • Mar. 28, 2023

For some reason, when there's an iffy partner in the picture, we friends tend to clam up and start overthinking and holding back.

From Washington Post • Sep. 6, 2021

But when the moment is upon me, I clam up.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.