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
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of taciturn
First recorded in 1765–75; from Latin taciturnus, “quiet, maintaining silence,” equivalent to tacit(us) “silent” ( see tacit) + -urnus adjective suffix of time
Explanation
Someone who is taciturn is reserved, not loud and talkative. The word itself refers to the trait of reticence, of seeming aloof and uncommunicative. A taciturn person might be snobby, naturally quiet, or just shy. Having its origin in the Latin tacitus, "silent," taciturn came to be used in mid-18th-century English in the sense "habitually silent." Taciturnity is often considered a negative trait, as it suggests someone uncommunicative and too quiet. Jane Austen wrote, "We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the éclat of a proverb."
Vocabulary lists containing taciturn
To Kill a Mockingbird
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Animal Farm
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Grade 10, List 3
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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.
Taciturn and media-averse, the goateed Mr. Durham had spent more than three decades as a prosecutor before Mr. Trump appointed him the U.S. attorney for Connecticut.
From New York Times • Jan. 26, 2023
Taciturn hardmen have a hard time getting awards since what they do is so undemonstrative, and not always visible to the naked eye.
From The Guardian • Jan. 25, 2018
Taciturn as he may be, he still prizes company.
From The New Yorker • Sep. 12, 2016
Taciturn housewife Yeong-hye is “completely unremarkable in every way,” according to her husband — until, that is, she decides to trash all the meat in their freezer.
From Washington Post • Jan. 20, 2016
Taciturn, silent, insensible to the new breath of vitality that was shaking the house, Colonel Aureliano Buendía could understand only that the secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
