RETICENCE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Reticence

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/rˈɛtɪsəns/ Listen

noun

Reticence n.

The quality or state of being reticent, or keeping silence; the state of holding one's tonque; refraining to speak of that which is suggested; uncommunicativeness. "Such fine reserve and noble reticence."

(Rhet.) A figure by which a person really speaks of a thing while he makes a show as if he would say nothingon the subject.

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Etymology of 'Reticence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Reticence" Quotes from Famous Books

... reticence, which had some humor in it, put me on my metal concerning the child, and the day after my arrival I sent Tam MacColl with a written request to Dame Dickenson to fetch the little one immediately ...

— Nancy Stair - A Novel • Elinor Macartney Lane

... brought James, for instance, into communication with Mrs. Septimus, Mrs. Septimus, with the little Nicholases, the little Nicholases with who-knows-whom, and so on. That great class to which they had risen, and now belonged, demanded a certain candour, a still more certain reticence. This combination guaranteed ...

— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... shuffled and hesitated as though he was curious to hear particulars. Wogan thought it wise to provoke his curiosity by disregarding it. It seemed that there was wisdom in his reticence, for a little later the Prince took him aside while the Countess of Berg was still playing ...

— Clementina • A.E.W. Mason

... a month or so ago. But a month or so ago the secrets came. Oh, I know him so well. He is trying to hide that there are any secrets lest his reticence should hurt me. But we have been so much together, so much to each other—how should I not know?" And again she leaned forward with her hands clasped tightly together upon her knees and a look of great distress lying ...

— The Broken Road • A. E. W. Mason

... case—corrupt good manners. If your intended speech is a sensible one, the present is as good a time, and Bedford Square as good a place, as you are likely to find for it. If it is otherwise, confess that you have decided to leave it unsaid. But do not postpone it. Reticence is always an error—even on the treasury bench. It is doubly erroneous in dealing with me; for I have a constitutional antipathy ...

— Cashel Byron's Profession • George Bernard Shaw

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