reticent

unwilling to speak; reserved; taciturn, uncommunicative: She was reticent to answer our questions.

Not to be confused with:

reluctant – disinclined; unwilling to act: She’s reluctant to report him to the police.

ret·i·cent

(rĕt′ĭ-sənt)

adj.

1. Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself. See Synonyms at laconic.

2. Restrained or reserved: "The laughter was steady, if reticent" (Bernard Lown).

3. Usage Problem Reluctant; unwilling.

[Latin reticēns, reticent-, present participle of reticēre, to keep silent : re-, re- + tacēre, to be silent.]

ret′i·cence (-səns) adv.

ret′i·cent·ly adv.

Usage Note: Reticent is generally used to indicate a reluctance to speak. Most commentators on usage have criticized its extended use as an all-purpose synonym for reluctant. In our 2001 survey, 83 percent of the Panel found unacceptable the sentence A lot of out-of-towners are reticent to come to the Twin Cities for a ballgame if there's a chance the game will be rained out.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

reticent

(ˈrɛtɪsənt)

adj

not open or communicative; not saying all that one knows; taciturn; reserved

[C19: from Latin reticēre to keep silent, from re- + tacēre to be silent]

ˈreticence n

ˈreticently adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ret•i•cent

(ˈrɛt ə sənt)

adj.

1. disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reserved.

2. restrained, as in style or appearance.

[1825–35; < Latin reticent-, s. of reticēns, present participle of reticēre to keep silent =re- re- + -ticēre, comb. form of tacēre to be silent; see -ent]

ret′i•cence, ret′i•cen•cy, n.

ret′i•cent•ly, adv.

reticent

- Based on Latin tacere, "be silent," combined with re-, an intensive prefix.

reticent

adjective uncommunicative, reserved, secretive, unforthcoming, quiet, silent, restrained, taciturn, tight-lipped, unspeaking, close-lipped, mum She is so reticent about her achievements.
open, frank, candid, expansive, talkative, communicative, voluble see reluctant

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

reticent

adjective

1. Not speaking freely or openly:

close, close-mouthed, incommunicable, incommunicative, reserved, silent, taciturn, tightlipped, uncommunicable, uncommunicative.

2. Not friendly, sociable, or warm in manner:

aloof, chill, chilly, cool, distant, offish, remote, reserved, solitary, standoffish, unapproachable, uncommunicative, undemonstrative, withdrawn.

Translations

reticente reticenza

reticent

[ˈretɪsənt] ADJ → reticente, reservado
he has been very reticent about it → ha tratado el asunto con la mayor reserva

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

reticent

[ˈrɛtɪsənt] adj → réticent(e)
reticent about sth → réticent(e) à parler de qch

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

reticent

adj → zurückhaltend; to be reticent about something → in Bezug auf etw (acc) → nicht sehr gesprächig sein

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

reticent

[ˈrɛtɪs/ənt] adj → reticente, riservato/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I found Montgomery very reticent about his purpose with these creatures, and about his destination; and though I was sensible of a growing curiosity as to both, I did not press him.

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It was a matter upon which he was reticent, and with persons of his kind a direct question is never very discreet.

View in context

She was, it is needless to say, perfectly well aware that he was in love with her, while he was himself modestly reticent on the subject-- so far as words went.

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But, in short, it is very manifest that he had one alone whom he made mistress of his will, to whom he commended himself very frequently and very secretly, for he prided himself on being a reticent knight."

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She was quick at understanding the grandmothers who spoke no English, and the most reticent and distrustful of them would tell her their story without realizing they were doing so.

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She had told him she was not now at Marlott, but had been curiously reticent as to her actual address, and the only course was to go to Marlott and inquire for it.

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She had no sense of chill resolute repulsion, of reticent self-justification such as she had known under Lydgate's most stormy displeasure: all her sensibility was turned into a bewildering novelty of pain; she felt a new terrified recoil under a lash never experienced before.

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In many ways my mother was as reticent as myself, though her manners were as gracious as mine were rough (in vain, alas!

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She was not going to say "I love my dear sister; I must be near her at this crisis of her life." The affections are more reticent than the passions, and their expression more subtle.

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He was forty years old, and by his nature very silent and reticent. To preach, standing in the pulpit before the people, was always a hardship for him and from Wednesday morning until Saturday evening he thought of nothing but the two sermons that must be preached on Sunday.

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He immediately began to talk to Drummle: not at all deterred by his replying in his heavy reticent way, but apparently led on by it to screw discourse out of him.

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Upon the point of their purpose in visiting the place Condon found the boy reticent, and so he did not push the matter--he had learned all that he cared to know as it was.

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Adj.	1.	reticent - temperamentally disinclined to talk untalkative taciturn - habitually reserved and uncommunicative
	2.	reticent - cool and formal in manner restrained, unemotional undemonstrative - not given to open expression of emotion
	3.	reticent - reluctant to draw attention to yourself self-effacing, retiring unassertive - inclined to timidity or lack of self-confidence; "a shy unassertive person"