Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself. synonym: laconic.
- adjective Restrained or reserved.
- adjective Usage Problem Reluctant; unwilling.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Disposed to be silent; reserved; not apt to speak about or reveal any matters: as, he is very reticent about his affairs.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Keeping one's
thoughts andopinions tooneself ;reserved orrestrained .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective reluctant to draw attention to yourself
- adjective temperamentally disinclined to talk
- adjective cool and formal in manner
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Havel has been described as a reticent, modest, honest, courageous and a Renaissance man -- a man filled with a moral vision of what the quality of life should be for all people.
Lee Bycel: The Legacy of Vaclav Havel Lee Bycel 2011
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Havel has been described as a reticent, modest, honest, courageous and a Renaissance man -- a man filled with a moral vision of what the quality of life should be for all people.
Lee Bycel: The Legacy of Vaclav Havel Lee Bycel 2011
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Havel has been described as a reticent, modest, honest, courageous and a Renaissance man -- a man filled with a moral vision of what the quality of life should be for all people.
Lee Bycel: The Legacy of Vaclav Havel Lee Bycel 2011
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Mr. Catlin, who could hardly be called reticent, at once made plain his feeling about the Missouri, the river that was to carry them some two thousand miles into the mysterious reaches of the West.
The Berrybender Narratives Larry McMurtry 2004
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Maria C. of Jersey City, NJ writes in with today's Mailbag Friday question: "My coworker always uses the word reticent when he really means reluctant.
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That caricature had faded away over the years, along with the stories of his brutal on-set perfectionism, replaced by a picture of a marginalized but respected industry elder whom journalists and collaborators have described as reticent and not especially prone to introspection.
NYT > Home Page By DENNIS LIM 2010
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That caricature had faded away over the years, along with the stories of his brutal on-set perfectionism, replaced by a picture of a marginalized but respected industry elder whom journalists and collaborators have described as reticent and not especially prone to introspection.
NYT > Global Home By DENNIS LIM 2010
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That caricature had faded away over the years, along with the stories of his brutal on-set perfectionism, replaced by a picture of a marginalized but respected industry elder whom journalists and collaborators have described as reticent and not especially prone to introspection.
NYT > Global Home 2010
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That caricature had faded away over the years, along with the stories of his brutal on-set perfectionism, replaced by a picture of a marginalized but respected industry elder whom journalists and collaborators have described as reticent and not especially prone to introspection.
NYT > Home Page 2010
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Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan told parliament Thursday the government was " reticent " to protect the taxpayer ' s interest.
Ireland Neil Shah 2010
tomsteele commented on the word reticent
reluctant to speak.
December 24, 2006
Oracle334 commented on the word reticent
I don't kow if this comment meets your guidelines for a contribution, but here goes! I find that people nowadays are using reticent as a synonym for reluctant (e.g. John is reticent to show emotion in public). But only one of your cited definitions for reticent mentions reluctant (American Heritage's 3rd citation) - and not as the preferred meaning. My comment I guess is about people's misuse of this word. My gut feeling is that US English speakers choose 'reticent' because it sounds fancier than good old simpler 'reluctant.'
April 2, 2009
mohitanand commented on the word reticent
disinclined to talk, not revealing one's thoughts
When asked about her father, Helen lost her outward enthusiasm and became rather reticent.
October 12, 2016