Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The utterance of few words.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun rare Brevity in speech.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncommon
Economical speech ; the use offew words when speaking;laconism .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From the Classical Latin pauciloquium ("the fact of speaking few words"), from pauci- ("little”, “few") + -loquium (from loquor ("I speak")).
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Examples
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I felt abashed at his pauciloquy; he had not yet told me how I could meet Father's friend.
Autobiography of a Yogi Yogananda, Paramhansa, 1893-1952 1935
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I felt abashed at his pauciloquy; he had not yet told me how I could meet Father's friend.
Autobiography of a Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda 1922
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‘mirificent’, ‘palmiferous’ (all in Henry More), ‘pauciloquy’ and
English Past and Present Richard Chenevix Trench 1846
whichbe commented on the word pauciloquy
Brevity in speech.
May 13, 2008
qms commented on the word pauciloquy
Use language with careful facility.
Let silence project as humility.
Some, when laconic,
Seem downright moronic,
The artful are praised for pauciloquy.
September 8, 2017