laconically
Americanadverb
Explanation
Anything that's spoken laconically gets right to the point using very few words. If the characters in your new play speak laconically, you'll write more stage directions than dialogue. This adverb comes from a Greek root, Lakonia, the name of a region in ancient Greece known for its citizens' skill at making convincing arguments using very few words. If your best friend has a similarly terse style, that means they also speak laconically. Talking this way makes speeches shorter, debates quicker, and conversations full of long silences.
Vocabulary lists containing laconically
The Count of Monte Cristo
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Code Name Verity
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Moneyball
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Laconically, White said, "We got a few more to go."
From Time Magazine Archive
Laconically, Johnson radioed Edwards tower, made certain that the radar trackers still carried him on their screens.
From Time Magazine Archive
Laconically acknowledging the ship's dwindling fuel supplies, Flight Director Neil Hutchinson explained: "We are in a finite situation, and the longer you wait the fewer options you have."
From Time Magazine Archive
Laconically: “The horses have quit us; we’re afoot.”
From The Man from the Bitter Roots by Lockhart, Caroline
Laconically, "I am the Boy at Mugby," he announces.
From Charles Dickens as a Reader by Kent, Charles Foster
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
