reticence

From Middle French réticence, from Latin reticentia, from reticēre

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛɾɨsins/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

reticence (countable and uncountable, plural reticences)

1. tight-lippedness, discretion, avoidance of saying too much
2. a silent and reserved nature

• 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:

  Basil's absurd fits of jealousy, his wild devotion, his extravagant panegyrics, his curious reticences, — he understood them all now, and he felt sorry.

• 2003, Yoko Ogawa, The Housekeeper and the Professor:

  Any reticence or wariness I felt for the Professor vanished the moment I saw him with my son, and from that point on I trusted him completely.

• 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula:

  You must not be angry with him, Art, because his very reticence means that all his brains are working for her good.

• reserve, secrecy, taciturnity
• bashfulness, demureness, diffidence, quietness, reservation, shyness, timidity

• openness, talkativeness
• loquaciousness, ostentation

• reticent, reticently