taciturn
Americanadjective
-
inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation.
- Synonyms:
- quiet, reticent, uncommunicative, silent
-
dour, stern, and silent in expression and manner.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- taciturnity noun
- taciturnly adverb
- untaciturn adjective
- untaciturnly adverb
Etymology
Origin of taciturn
First recorded in 1765–75; from Latin taciturnus, “quiet, maintaining silence,” equivalent to tacit(us) “silent” ( tacit ) + -urnus adjective suffix of time
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.
She is as warm and outgoing as he is taciturn and undemonstrative.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
In 1983, he slipped into the role of a taciturn Texas ranger waging war against an arms dealer in "Lone Wolf McQuade", which provided the template for the cult TV series "Walker, Texas Ranger".
From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026
And on another potentially tricky topic, the sacking of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Trump was unusually taciturn.
From BBC • Sep. 18, 2025
Seok “Serk” Kang, a taciturn professor at a Michigan university, accepts a year’s appointment at a college in a Japanese town close to Osaka in 1978.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2025
Samuel Walter McCandless, Jr., fifty-six years old, is a bearded, taciturn man with longish salt-and-pepper hair combed straight back from a high forehead.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
