laconic
/ləˈkɒnɪk
/adjective
(Of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words: his laconic reply suggested a lack of interest in the topic...
- He spoke in an unfeasibly low voice, with the lyrical and laconic speech so typical of the Jamaicans.
- The problem is likely to be, at least in part, Hilberg's laconic style.
- In contrast to the laconic style of most garage MCs, Mills rhymes in a startling, panicked yelp.
Synonyms
brief, concise, terse, succinct, short, economical, elliptical, crisp, pithy, to the point, incisive, short and sweet, compendious;
abrupt, blunt, curt, clipped, monosyllabic, brusque, pointed, gruff, sharp, tart;
epigrammatic, aphoristic, gnomic
taciturn, of few words, uncommunicative, reticent, quiet, untalkative, reserved, silent, speechless, tight-lipped, unforthcoming, brusque
Derivatives
laconically
/ adverb ...- ‘You make your first record,’ says Goldenhorse stalwart Geoff Maddock laconically, ‘and no one knows who you are.’
- ‘Too soon to tell,’ Zhou laconically riposted.
- ‘Fan letters,’ he says laconically, ripping them open and reading out some choice sentences.
laconicism
/ noun ...- His peculiar mix of laconicism and loquaciousness means that when he talks you tend to listen closely.
- In the former category were the blunt epigrams of Otto Luening's Third Short Sonata, the graceful, playful modesty of Ibert's ‘Jeux’ and the altogether more wintry laconicism of Edison Denisov's Four Pieces for the two instruments.
- In its starkness and simplicity, Dead Man returns to the crystalline laconicism of Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise; and though we may sense that this saga is essentially without hope, we are still wryly bemused and frequently amused.
laconism
/ noun ...- Comparing the book with Shahnama-e-Islam, Maulana Akhlaque Hussain Qasmi said that the author had done a very good job in applying eloquence and laconism to his writing skill.
- CIA bods clearly tend toward the ‘strong, silent’ type as this sentence is a model of laconism.
- Terence Morgan's Drake, endowed from the start with an uncanny self-confidence, struck exactly the right balance between poker-faced laconism and Errol Flynn-like exuberance.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the sense 'Laconian'): via Latin from Greek Lakōnikos, from Lakōn 'Laconia, Sparta', the Spartans being known for their terse speech.
The Spartans or Laconians of ancient Greece were known for their austere lifestyle and pithy speech. When Philip of Macedon threatened to invade Laconia in the 4th century bc, he wrote to its governing magistrates to try to frighten them into submission, saying that if he entered Laconia he would raze it to the ground. They are reported to have sent a one-word reply—‘If’. Since the 16th century laconic has meant ‘using very few words’. See also spartan
Rhymes
- publicity shot
- publicity-wise
- publicization
- publicize
- public key
- public language
- public lavatory
- public law
- public lending right
- public liability
- public library
- public limited company
- publicly
- public menace
- publicness
- public nuisance
- public offer
- public offering
- public office
- public opinion
- public orator
- public ownership
- public park
- public policy
- public prosecutor