Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself. See Synonyms at silent.
- adj. Restrained or reserved in style.
- adj. Reluctant; unwilling.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Disposed to be silent; reserved; not apt to speak about or reveal any matters: as, he is very reticent about his affairs.
Wiktionary
- adj. Keeping one's thoughts and opinions to oneself; reserved or restrained.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. reluctant to draw attention to yourself
- adj. temperamentally disinclined to talk
- adj. cool and formal in manner
Etymologies
- Latin reticens, present participle of reticere ("to keep silence"); re- + tacere ("to be silent"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin reticēns, reticent-, present participle of reticēre, to keep silent : re-, re- + tacēre, to be silent. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Havel has been described as a reticent, modest, honest, courageous and a Renaissance man -- a man filled with a moral vision of what the quality of life should be for all people.”
“Mr. Catlin, who could hardly be called reticent, at once made plain his feeling about the Missouri, the river that was to carry them some two thousand miles into the mysterious reaches of the West.”
“Maria C. of Jersey City, NJ writes in with today's Mailbag Friday question: "My coworker always uses the word reticent when he really means reluctant.”
“That caricature had faded away over the years, along with the stories of his brutal on-set perfectionism, replaced by a picture of a marginalized but respected industry elder whom journalists and collaborators have described as reticent and not especially prone to introspection.”
“Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan told parliament Thursday the government was " reticent " to protect the taxpayer ' s interest.”
“The story also points out that this is at odds with the constant claim that McCain is "reticent" to discuss that past.”
“In Chausson, the result is a kind of reticent grandeur that I've always found intriguing.”
“But in speaking with a former homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, she said that they might be kind of reticent about doing much of anything.”
“The former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius has proclaimed himself to be rather "reticent" on the subject does he mean ambivalent?”
“MR. MCCURRY: Well I don't -- "reticent" is your word, not necessarily our word.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘reticent’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 297 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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Blood Meridian
scullery, Leonid, parricide, boll, boatswain, walleyed, divest, diffident, rookery, coiffure, heady, garish and 177 more...
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common/uncommon GRE
Combination some common, some uncommon preparation of GRE words.
thwart, schmooze, siren, ebullient, eclectic, efficacy, adorn, felicitous, grandiloquent, eloquence, epitomize, vilify and 10 more...
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06-13 GRE list
churlish, unswear, abnegate, abjure, state, indemnification, adumbrated, reny, abash, recondite, rescission, esoteric and 258 more...
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GRE
intrepid, accost, reticent, furtive, pretext, gesticulate, cajole, nuance, lackluster, jostle, incipient, inadvertent and 4 more...
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passive
words of inaction
tepid, languid, stagnant, inertia, effete, mired, soporific, reticent, taciturn, mollify, nebbish, milquetoast and 13 more...
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1100 words you need to know
GRE words
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 288 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for reticent.
Oracle334 I don't kow if this comment meets your guidelines for a contribution, but here goes! I find that people nowadays are using reticent as a synonym for reluctant (e.g. John is reticent to show emotion in public). But only one of your cited definitions for reticent mentions reluctant (American Heritage's 3rd citation) - and not as the preferred meaning. My comment I guess is about people's misuse of this word. My gut feeling is that US English speakers choose 'reticent' because it sounds fancier than good old simpler 'reluctant.' Apr 2, 2009
tomsteele reluctant to speak. Dec 24, 2006