Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Sparing of speech; reticent: as, a close-mouthed person.

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

  • adjective Cautious in speaking; secret; wary; uncommunicative.

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

  • adjective reticent, secretive or uncommunicative

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

  • adjective inclined to secrecy or reticence about divulging information

Etymologies

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Examples

  • From the moment she entered the building on Twenty-third and E that brisk December morning, everyone had been very formal and closemouthed.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • Though Declan had become an expert at torture, the immortals were astonishingly closemouthed, even withholding information about their natural enemies.

    Dreams of a Dark Warrior Kresley Cole 2011

  • They were both very closemouthed about their studies together as such things are private.

    Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » CarsonArtist’s Review Forum 2009

  • Though Declan had become an expert at torture, the immortals were astonishingly closemouthed, even withholding information about their natural enemies.

    Dreams of a Dark Warrior Kresley Cole 2011

  • From the moment she entered the building on Twenty-third and E that brisk December morning, everyone had been very formal and closemouthed.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • They tried to get information out of Rams, but he was as closemouthed as the woman he loved.

    Scarlet Nights Jude Deveraux 2010

  • They tried to get information out of Rams, but he was as closemouthed as the woman he loved.

    Scarlet Nights Jude Deveraux 2010

  • He is closemouthed on the specifics of other cuts, but in San Francisco recently he strongly hinted, to an audience composed mostly of Marine Corps veterans, that he is aiming at one of the Marines 'most cherished programs, a high-speed assault craft for amphibious landings.

    A War Within 2010

  • They tried to get information out of Rams, but he was as closemouthed as the woman he loved.

    Scarlet Nights Jude Deveraux 2010

  • In a quarter of an hour, a closemouthed Roark reappeared.

    Aching for Always Gwyn Cready 2010

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