Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Disposed not to talk; tightlipped.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word close-mouthed.

Examples

  • "The administration has been fairly close-mouthed about most of this, even listening to Hillary and others who speak on these matters," said Wilkerson.

    Obama's Restraint Doctrine: How The President's Egypt Policy Has Managed To Please No One At All Sam Stein 2011

  • In Abbottabad, however, isolated mansions with 18-foot outer walls and close-mouthed residents seem to be not unusual, as well as off-limits to local authorities and civil society.

    Karthika Sasikumar: The Fractures That Breed Danger Karthika Sasikumar 2011

  • But when you look back and picture the nasty close-mouthed eye-darting simpering smugness of this film's hero and the behavior of everyone else in the film I defy you to find one moment of grace except perhaps when lawyer Rashida Jones tells it like it is to her client.

    Nancy Doyle Palmer: The Social Network - Much Ado about Nothing Nancy Doyle Palmer 2010

  • Saudi Arabia is famous for being close-mouthed about their level of reserves, and is widely suspected (as are most OPEC members) of inflating their reserves, because OPEC allocates extraction quotas partly based upon reserves.

    Double, double, oil 2010

  • But when you look back and picture the nasty close-mouthed eye-darting simpering smugness of this film's hero and the behavior of everyone else in the film I defy you to find one moment of grace except perhaps when lawyer Rashida Jones tells it like it is to her client.

    Nancy Doyle Palmer: The Social Network - Much Ado about Nothing Nancy Doyle Palmer 2010

  • But when you look back and picture the nasty close-mouthed eye-darting simpering smugness of this film's hero and the behavior of everyone else in the film I defy you to find one moment of grace except perhaps when lawyer Rashida Jones tells it like it is to her client.

    Nancy Doyle Palmer: The Social Network - Much Ado about Nothing Nancy Doyle Palmer 2010

  • I'd expect him to be close-mouthed. this isn't news.

    Pawlenty dodges 2012 question 2009

  • So I got a shrewd, close-mouthed, tight-fisted money-lender to get the mortgage transferred to him.

    MOON-FACE 2010

  • And so it is with Sunil 's close-mouthed anger, which soon begins to fall away in response to Mr. Byrne' s, as ever, remarkably portrayed therapist: a listener whose own face reflects every note of pain he hears.

    Make an Appointment Dorothy Rabinowitz 2010

  • Saudi Arabia is famous for being close-mouthed about their level of reserves, and is widely suspected (as are most OPEC members) of inflating their reserves, because OPEC allocates extraction quotas partly based upon reserves.

    Archive 2010-02-01 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.