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laconic

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The definition of laconic refers to someone who doesn't talk a lot or uses very few words.

(adjective)

An example of laconic is saying "fine" in response to a question of how work was.

See laconic in Webster's New World College Dictionary

adjective

brief or terse in speech or expression; using few words

Origin: L Laconicus < Gr Lakōnikos, Laconian < Lakōn, a Laconian, Spartan

Related Forms:

laconically adverb

See laconic in American Heritage Dictionary 4

adjective

Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise. See Synonyms at silent.

Origin:

Origin: Latin Lacōnicus, Spartan

Origin: , from Greek Lakōnikos

Origin: , from Lakōn, a Spartan (from the reputation of the Spartans for brevity of speech)

Related Forms:

la·conˈi·cal·ly adverb

Word History: The study of the classics allows one to understand the history of the term laconic, which comes to us via Latin from Greek Lakōnikos. The English word is first recorded in 1583 with the sense “of or relating to Laconia or its inhabitants.” Lakōnikos is derived from Lakōn, “a Laconian, a person from Lacedaemon,” the name for the region of Greece of which Sparta was the capital. The Spartans, noted for being warlike and disciplined, were also known for the brevity of their speech, and it is this quality that English writers still denote by the use of the adjective laconic, which is first found in this sense in 1589.

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