reticence means avoidance of saying or reluctance to say too much; discretion, tight-lippedness; (countable) an instance of acting in this manner. It carries an Arena rating of 1691, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, reticence ranks #1,386 of 25,264 for Qualifying, #2,308 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #2,382 of 14,414 for Most Elegant Words.
reticence is pronounced /ˈɹɛtɪs(ə)ns/.
Why “reticence” is a great word
A restraint in speech, a deliberate withholding of words or personal revelation. From Middle French réticence, from Latin reticentia ("silence, a keeping silent"), from reticēns, present participle of reticeō ("to keep silent"), from re- (intensive prefix) + taceō ("to be silent"). First recorded in English c. 1600. Unlike “reluctance,” which suggests a broader unwillingness to act, or “reserved,” which describes a general temperament, reticence is the specific, chosen act of not speaking. It is the pause that hangs in the air after a loaded question, the unreadable face across a polished table, the private grief folded neatly behind a calm expression—a fortress of silence built not from emptiness, but from a surplus of unshared thought, where some words remain, by mutual consent, unsaid.
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from Middle French réticence (“act of keeping silent, silence; reserve; aposiopesis”) (modern French réticence (“tight-lippedness, reticence”)), or derived from its etymon Latin reticentia (“act of keeping silent, silence; aposiopesis”), from reticēns (“keeping silent, reticent, silent; keeping secret, concealing”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Reticēns is the present active participle of reticeō (“to keep silent; to keep secret, conceal”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + taceō (“to be silent, keep quiet”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tak- or *tHk-). The English word is cognate with Italian reticenza (“reticence”), Portuguese reticência, Spanish reticencia (“reticence; reluctance”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
noun
- Avoidance of saying or reluctance to say too much; discretion, tight-lippedness; (countable) an instance of acting in this manner.“[Y]ou paſſe ouer their teſtimonies, & his whole diſcourſe out of them, with a fraudulent reticence of the particulars, and thinke to be euen with them, making vp by ſcoffing, what you cannot by arguing, [...]”
- A silent and reserved nature.“The determined reticence of Jasper, however, was not to be so approached. Impassive, moody, solitary, resolute, so concentrated on one idea, and on its attendant fixed purpose, that he would share it with no fellow-creature, he lived apart from human life.”
- Followed by of: discretion or restraint in the use of something.“This is the reticence of temperament, and we see it in children from quite an early age—those children who are trusted by the servants, and are their favourites in consequence, because they tell no tales; but it is a disposition that may become dangerous unless watched, and that is always liable to degenerate into falsehood.”
- Often followed by to: hesitancy or reluctance (to do something).“According to Anthony & Astorga (1997), the CATIE collection suffers the loss of some 250 individuals every year, which amounts to a general genetic erosion rate of 3% (4.8% for the wild genotypes). The expense of maintaining these collections, as well as the reticence of sponsors to finance such activities, are perhaps the most important factors affecting this erosion.”
- Synonym of aposiopesis (“an abrupt breaking-off in speech”).“If the Comteſſe de la Motte, contented to load me with opprobrious language, and to make uſe of inſidious reticences, does not accept of this formal challenge, I muſt declare to her, once for all, that I ſhall give to all her reticences, to all her obloquy, paſt, preſent, and to come, an anſwer very laconic, perfectly clear, moſt energetic, [...] —Mentiris impudentissime [you lie shamelessly].”
verb
- To deliberately not listen or pay attention to; to disregard, to ignore.“[Percy Bysshe] Shelley, a true vates, was called upon by their divine influence to render some choice passages from this very Faust, which, from confessed inability, [Francis Leveson-]Gower had left unattempted in his precious version, and some which from other motives he had purposely reticensed.”
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