Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being taciturn; paucity of speech; disinclination to talk.
  • noun In Scots law, a mode of extinguishing an obligation (in a shorter period than by the forty years' prescription) by the silence of the creditor, and the presumption that, in the relative situations of himself and the debtor, he would not have been so long silent had not the obligation been satisfied.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Habitual silence, or reserve in speaking.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The trait of being taciturn.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the trait of being uncommunicative; not volunteering anything more than necessary

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

taciturn +‎ -ity

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Examples

  • Bersonin, who despite his taciturnity was a patient teacher, instructed me in Danish, but possibly because he himself only spoke it at second hand, I didn't take to it easily.

    Royal Flash Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1970

  • In the West, his reserve with men had been labelled taciturnity or swollen-headeduess, which did not fit the case at all; whilst, in spite of his perfect manner towards them, his indifference to woman _en masse_ or in the individual was supreme and sincere.

    The Hawk of Egypt Joan Conquest

  • At first both were silent, for Lord Ulswater used the ordinary privilege of a lover and was absent and absorbed, and his companion was never the first to break a taciturnity natural to his habits.

    The Disowned — Volume 08 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • At first both were silent, for Lord Ulswater used the ordinary privilege of a lover and was absent and absorbed, and his companion was never the first to break a taciturnity natural to his habits.

    The Disowned — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • They said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his Majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence.

    The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-84) John Lothrop Motley 1845

  • They said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his Majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence.

    PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete John Lothrop Motley 1845

  • They said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his Majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence.

    The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 08: 1563-64 John Lothrop Motley 1845

  • They said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his Majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence.

    The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-66) John Lothrop Motley 1845

  • Sensible of his father's humble, but yet respectable position, he neither attempted to swagger himself into importance by an affectation of superior breeding or contempt for his parent, nor did he manifest any of that sullen taciturnity which is frequently preserved, as a proof of superiority, or a mask for conscious ignorance and bad breeding; the fact being generally forgotten that it is an exponent of both.

    The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One William Carleton 1831

  • Soon they were all talking at once, rumbling and roaring as big - chested open-air men will, when whisky has whipped their taciturnity.

    Chapter 4 2010

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