laconic
[luh-kon-ik]
adjective
using few words; expressing much in few words; concise: a laconic reply.
RELATED WORDS
terse, brusque, pithy, brief, compact, compendious, concise, crisp, curt, sententious, succinct, breviloquent
Nearby words
- lacklustre,
- laclos,
- laclos, pierre ambroise françois choderlos de,
- laconia,
- laconian,
- laconical,
- laconically,
- laconicism,
- laconicum,
- laconism
Origin of laconic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for laconic
laconic
laconical
adjective
Word Origin for laconic
C16: via Latin from Greek Lakōnikos, from Lakōn Laconian, Spartan; referring to the Spartans' terseness of speech
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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laconic
"concise, abrupt," 1580s, probably via Latin Laconicus, from Greek Lakonikos, from Lakon "person from Lakonia," the district around Sparta in southern Greece in ancient times, whose inhabitants were famously proud of their brevity of speech. When Philip of Macedon threatened them with, "If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground," the Spartans' reply was, "If." An earlier form was laconical (1570s). Related: Laconically.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper