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.
As Ms. Wulf laconically remarks, “George wasn’t asked.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026
The autopsy reports will state, laconically, "Death due to complications of environmental heat exposure."
From Salon • Jul. 19, 2020
Packer ends the chapter laconically: “It shames us today.”
From Slate • May 9, 2019
Slowly, laconically, technicians wandered around Sunday afternoon, dismantling the stage they had constructed.
From New York Times • Nov. 26, 2018
“My radar clocked you going seventy-five miles an hour in a sixty-mile zone,” he said laconically.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
