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(n.)
The quiet that fills a public space once the background murmur of strangers engaging in small talk has been optimized out of it.
The supermarket hushbub was hard to miss once every lane was converted to self-checkout.
Does it ring true?
From the future, or already here?
Hubbub, the onomatopoeic word for the cacophonic noise of a crowd, believed to come from the Old Irish war cry abú (meaning “victory!”). Hush + bub captures the particular near-silence of the beauty salon and the contactless lobby, now that the “inefficient” (and noisy) humans have been removed.
Future Words: A Non-Obvious Glossary of Terms That Don’t Exist (But Soon Will) collects all 100, each with its example sentence and coinage notes, from the bestselling authors of The Future Normal. Hardcover, October 20, 2026.