taciturn
adjective
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How should you use taciturn?
Taciturn shows up in English in the first half of the 18th century. James Miller, a British clergyman educated at Oxford, gives an early example of its use in his 1734 satiric drama, wherein a character describes a nephew with the following: "When he was little, he never was what they call Roguish or Waggish, but was always close, quiet, and taciturn." It seems we waited unduly long to adopt this useful descendent of the Latin verb tacēre, meaning "to be silent"; we were quicker to adopt other words from the tacēre family. We've been using tacit, an adjective meaning "expressed without words" or "implied," since at least the mid-17th century. And we've had the noun taciturnity, meaning "habitual silence," since at least the mid-15th century.
Synonyms
- closemouthed
- dumb
- laconic
- reserved
- reticent
- silent
- tight-lipped
- uncommunicative
Example Sentences
Simon Schama, New Republic, 22 July 2002 The pipe-smoking Malcolm Cowley … though a faithful fellow-traveller, was too taciturn usually to show his hand. Mary McCarthy, Granta 27, Summer 1989 She was a small, taut, pale, wiry London girl, alarmingly taciturn, demon at basketball (at which she captained us) … Elizabeth Bowen, The Mulberry Tree, 1986 When he got to the substation that night, this private taciturn fellow had to spill his guts. If he didn't tell somebody, he might blow like a land mine. Joseph Wambaugh, Lines and Shadows, 1984 a somewhat taciturn young man a taciturn man, he almost never initiates a conversation See More David Sims, The Atlantic, 3 Aug. 2022 Yusuke is transported to and from rehearsals by a taciturn young driver, Misaki Watari (Toko Miura). Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 21 July 2022 Pattinson somehow conveys his pain — and his attraction to Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle — beneath the mask while also finding his voice (nodding to Sergio Leone’s taciturn yet emotive gunslingers). Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2019 Even the normally taciturn Clarence Thomas was moved to issue a rare public statement. Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, 27 June 2022 And the pragmatic, utterly ruthless Chase is a good showcase role for Bridges at the more taciturn end of his late-career range. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2022 This creates painful conflict for the taciturn tailor when Youssef reveals his feelings in an intensely moving physical display in the store, and the older man’s rejection of him causes the apprentice to quit. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 May 2022 Not least when played with teasing, taciturn, ten-drinks-down chemistry by performers as gorgeous as Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn, albeit with salt on their skin and dirt under their nails. Guy Lodge, Variety, 25 May 2022 The letters, in particular, reveal a sentimental side that the taciturn Simon tended not to show to the public. Washington Post, 25 Apr. 2022 See More Word History
French or Latin; French taciturne, from Middle French, from Latin taciturnus, from tacitus — see tacit
1734, in the meaning defined above
taciturn
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- silent
- reserved
- restrained
- laconic
- dumb
- uncommunicative
- reticent
- closemouthed
- tight-lipped
- aloof
- introverted
- diffident
- indrawn
- inhibited
- bashful
- sheepish
- sedate
- staid
- self-effacing
- coy
- retiring
- demure
- backward
- modest
- sober
- self-contained
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- talkative
- loquacious
- garrulous
- chatty
- outspoken
- communicative
- conversational
- mouthy
- vocal
- talky
- gabby
- unreserved
- blabby
- motormouthed
- gossipy
- free-spoken
- gregarious
- verbose
- outgoing
- prolix
- wordy
- extroverted
- sociable
- diffuse
- windy
- extraverted
- rambling
- talebearing
- long-winded
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of taciturn are reserved, reticent, secretive, and silent. While all these words mean "showing restraint in speaking," taciturn implies a temperamental disinclination to speech and usually connotes unsociability.
The synonyms reserved and taciturn are sometimes interchangeable, but reserved implies reticence and suggests the restraining influence of caution or formality in checking easy informal conversational exchange.
The words reticent and taciturn can be used in similar contexts, but reticent implies a reluctance to speak out or at length, especially about one's own affairs.
Although the words secretive and taciturn have much in common, secretive, too, implies reticence but usually carries a suggestion of deviousness and lack of frankness or of an often ostentatious will to conceal.
The words silent and taciturn are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, silent implies a habit of saying no more than is needed.