taciturn

Back-formation from taciturnity, from Middle English taciturnite, from Latin taciturnitās; or alternatively from French taciturne, likely reinforced by Latin taciturnus, from tacitus (“secret, tacit”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtæsɪtɜːn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtæsɪtɝn/

• Audio (US)

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taciturn (comparative more taciturn, superlative most taciturn)

1. Silent; temperamentally untalkative; disinclined to speak.

   Synonyms: reticent, untalkative; see also Thesaurus:taciturn

   Antonyms: garrulous, loquacious

   The two sisters could hardly have been more different, one so boisterous and expressive, the other so taciturn and calm.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18:

     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 eclat of a proverb.

   • 1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14:

     We spent a lot of time up on the staging of the great furnaces, trying to pick up the tricks of the trade from the taciturn furnacemen who sat around placidly smoking, or chewing twist, and occasionally throwing in more pig iron to the molten white-hot metal.

• taciturnity
• taciturnly

• tacit
• tacitly
• tacitness

• tinctura, urticant

Borrowed from Latin taciturnus.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [tə.siˈturn]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ta.siˈtuɾn]

taciturn (feminine taciturna, masculine plural taciturns, feminine plural taciturnes)

1. taciturn

• tàcit

• “taciturn” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “taciturn”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “taciturn” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “taciturn” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from French taciturne, from Latin taciturnus.

taciturn m or n (feminine singular taciturnă, masculine plural taciturni, feminine and neuter plural taciturne)

1. taciturn

• taciturnitate