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.
Since then, Katz’s portraits, along with his laconically decorative renderings of trees and flowers, New York cityscapes and Maine landscapes, have spent long periods looking out of tune with the zeitgeist.
From Washington Post • Oct. 29, 2022
Deveraux's companion asks where Scott is, to which Deveraux laconically replies, "Around."
From Salon • Nov. 27, 2021
Packer ends the chapter laconically: “It shames us today.”
From Slate • May 9, 2019
The rest, he noted laconically: “Marketing, promotion, being yourself.”
From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2019
“You’ll have to do something,” the candy woman told the manager laconically.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
