Taciturn shows up in English in the first half of the 18th century. James Miller, a British clergyman educated at Oxford, gives an early example of its use in his 1734 satiric drama, wherein a character describes a nephew with the following: "When he was little, he never was what they call Roguish or Waggish, but was always close, quiet, and taciturn." It seems we waited unduly long to adopt this useful descendent of the Latin verb tacēre, meaning "to be silent"; we were quicker to adopt other words from the tacēre family. We've been using tacit, an adjective meaning "expressed without words" or "implied," since at least the mid-17th century. And we've had the noun taciturnity, meaning "habitual silence," since at least the mid-15th century.
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.
taciturn villagers
reticent implies a reluctance to speak out or at length, especially about one's own affairs.
was reticent about his plans
reserved implies reticence and suggests the restraining influence of caution or formality in checking easy informal conversational exchange.
greetings were brief, formal, and reserved
secretive, too, implies reticence but usually carries a suggestion of deviousness and lack of frankness or of an often ostentatious will to conceal.
the secretive research and development division
Examples of taciturn in a Sentence
I went on speech strike … remaining defiantly taciturn through a procession of speech therapists and psychotherapists, verbalizing only to the gardener and swearing him to silence.—Simon Schama, New Republic, 22 July 2002The pipe-smoking Malcolm Cowley … though a faithful fellow-traveller, was too taciturn usually to show his hand.—Mary McCarthy, Granta 27, Summer 1989She was a small, taut, pale, wiry London girl, alarmingly taciturn, demon at basketball (at which she captained us) …—Elizabeth Bowen, The Mulberry Tree, 1986When he got to the substation that night, this private taciturn fellow had to spill his guts. If he didn't tell somebody, he might blow like a land mine.—Joseph Wambaugh, Lines and Shadows, 1984
a somewhat taciturn young man
a taciturn man, he almost never initiates a conversation
Recent Examples on the WebThe impertinent Squirrel Nutkin, who plagues a taciturn old owl with incessant riddles and rhymes, doesn’t know his place in the natural hierarchy.—Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024 Image Addressing the audience at the recent Fall Out Boy concert, Mr. Stump recalled his taciturn stage persona in the band’s early years, and said that Mr. Benjamin had helped change that.—Alex Williams, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for taciturn
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'taciturn.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
French or Latin; French taciturne, from Middle French, from Latin taciturnus, from tacitus — see tacit
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