Reticence
['retɪs(ə)ns] or ['rɛtəsns]
Definition
(n.) The quality or state of being reticent, or keeping silence; the state of holding one's tonque; refraining to speak of that which is suggested; uncommunicativeness.
(n.) A figure by which a person really speaks of a thing while he makes a show as if he would say nothingon the subject.
Checked by Bryant
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Reserve, taciturnity.
Checker: Ophelia
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Reserve, silentness, refrain, repressiveness
ANT:Unreserve, abandon, garrulity, freedom
Inputed by Gavin
Definition
n. concealment by silence: reserve in speech—also Ret′icency.—adj. Ret′icent concealing by silence: reserved in speech.
Checker: Phyllis
Examples
- Her normal manner among the heathfolk had that reticence which results from the consciousness of superior communicative power. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- There was an emphatic kind of reticence in Mr. Chichely's manner of speaking. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Anything to equal the determined reticence of Mr. Jaggers under that roof I never saw elsewhere, even in him. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- The Abbot replied with reticence, couldn't say. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The other, ill-contented with this reticence, would have persisted in his questioning, but the old man, seeing this, shut him up sharply. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- She showed her usual reticence to her parents, and only said, that if Lydgate had done as she wished he would have left Middlemarch long ago. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- There was a little more reticence now than formerly in Thomasin's manner towards her cousin. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- I cannot explain myself now, but I will some day, and then you will see I have a good reason for my reticence. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Mr Inspector replied, with due generality and reticence, that it was always more likely that a man had done a bad thing than that he hadn't. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And on the most delicate of all personal subjects, the habit of proud suspicious reticence told doubly. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Because I have strong reasons for such reticence, said the poet coldly; either trust me in all or not at all. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- In spite of her general reticence, she needed some one who would recognize her wrongs. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- In his usual mode of demanding an opinion (he had not reticence to wait till it was voluntarily offered) he asked, Were you interested? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- In no duty towards others is there more need of reticence and self-restraint. Plato. The Republic.
- Ah, you didn't mean me to know it; I call that ungenerous reticence. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
Typist: Richard