Reticent Meaning
/ˈɹɛtɪsənt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjUnwilling to communicate; keeping one's thoughts and opinions to oneself; reserved or restrained.
adjHesitant or not wanting to take some action; reluctant (usually followed by a verb in the infinitive).
Sentence Examples
He is reticent and he never speaks unless spoken to.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The usually ____ boy refused to answer any questions from the new teacher.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was ____ about discussing her personal life with colleagues, preferring to keep work and home separate.
Word Origin & History
Latin reticēns, present participle of reticeō (“to keep silence”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"They are slow and reticent, and are like a dull good horse which lets every nag pass him, but with whip and spur will run down every racer in the field."
— 1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Result”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC:
"But he was a reticent as well as an eccentric man; and he made no mention of a certain evening when he warmed his hands at the gatehouse fire, and looked steadily down upon a certain heap of torn and miry clothes upon the floor."
— 1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, chapter XXIII, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC:
"She had told him she was not now at Marlott, but had been curiously reticent as to her actual address, and the only course was to go to Marlott and inquire for it."
— 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:
"The milkman had been released, I read, and the true criminal, about whose identity the police were reticent, was believed to have got away from London by one of the northern lines."
— 1915 August–September, John Buchan, chapter 3, in The Thirty-Nine Steps, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published October 1915, →OCLC:
"The inhabitants of that street impressed me peculiarly; At first I thought it was because they were all silent and reticent; but later decided it was because they were all very old."
— 1922, H. P. Lovecraft, The Music of Erich Zann:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The usually ____ boy refused to answer any questions from the new teacher.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was ____ about discussing her personal life with colleagues, preferring to keep work and home separate.