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Permanent link for this word: reticent

Feb 11, 2011

This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
dyspeptic
caitiff
tetchy
valetudinarian
reticent

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Polysemantic words

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

reticent

PRONUNCIATION:

(RET-i-suhnt)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Reluctant to share one's thoughts and feelings.
2. Restrained or unwilling.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin reticere (to keep silent), from tacere (to be silent). Earliest documented use: 1825.

USAGE:

"Lester is usually among the more reticent Red Sox, so a statement from him falling somewhere between candid and brash rates as a surprise."
Gabe Lacques; Red Sox's Jon Lester; USA Today (Washington, DC); Jan 25, 2011.

See more usage examples of reticent in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind. -William Somerset Maugham, writer (1874-1965)

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