What is the noun form of reticent?
Reticence is a noun originating from the Latin word reticent, meaning “remaining silent.” Someone charged with a crime might be instructed by their lawyer to show reticence when being questioned by police.
Can reticent be used as a verb?
Reticent meaning “hesitant” or “reluctant” is most frequently followed by “to” and a verb.
Is reticent a verb noun or adjective?
About 50 years later, reticent took on the additional sense of “reluctant” which, while it is now well established, bothers some people, particularly because it has veered away from the word’s Latin origins—reticent is from the verb reticēre, meaning “to keep silent.” But there is some sense in the way the newer …
Is reticent an adjective?
reticent adjective – Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced American Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com.
How do you use the word reticent?
Reticent sentence example
- Even the reticent members participated enthusiastically.
- He is initially reticent , unsure of the motives for my questions.
- Thornton was equally reticent about both issues when I spoke to him.
- But Knox seems to have been reticent about his early life, even to his contemporaries.
Is reticent a synonym?
Some common synonyms of reticent are reserved, secretive, silent, and taciturn. While all these words mean “showing restraint in speaking,” reticent implies a reluctance to speak out or at length, especially about one’s own affairs.
What does reticent mean synonym?
What is the meaning of word taciturn?
silent, taciturn, reticent, reserved, secretive mean showing restraint in speaking. silent implies a habit of saying no more than is needed. the strong, silent type taciturn implies a temperamental disinclination to speech and usually connotes unsociability.
What is the meaning of reticent in English?
reticent adjective. uk /ˈret.ɪ.sənt/ us /ˈret̬.ə.sənt/ formal. › unwilling to speak about your thoughts or feelings: He is very reticent about his past. Most of the students were reticent about answering questions.
When did the word reticent become a reluctant word?
We first tended to use the “reluctant” sense of reticent when the context was speech (as in “reticent to talk about her past”), thus keeping the word close to its “silent” sense. Eventually, however, exclusive association with speech was abandoned.
How did the word’reticent’become’reluctant’?
But there is some sense in the way the newer meaning developed. We first tended to use the “reluctant” sense of reticent when the context was speech (as in “reticent to talk about her past”), thus keeping the word close to its “silent” sense. Eventually, however, exclusive association with speech was abandoned.
When did the word reticular first appear in the English language?
Reticent in the sense of “inclined to be silent or uncommunicative” first appeared in English in the early 19th century.