RETICENCE • DICTIONARY ONE.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

... but she could not have employed a more convincing eloquence. The reticence wrought upon Eileen's nerves. After a couple of months of maternal meekness and family poverty, the suggested sacrifice began to appeal to her. A letter from Doherty on his steamer (forwarded to her from Paris by Marcelle), ...

— The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes • Israel Zangwill

... God have been chastened and awed by their quick deliverance, and their paean is in the solemn tone of temple psalmody, the first striking bit of local color which the composer has introduced into his score—a reticence on his part of which it may be said that it is all the more remarkable from the fact that local color ...

— A Second Book of Operas • Henry Edward Krehbiel

... the splendid lines of his muscular shoulders. He had grown to a physical manhood which had the leopard's lithe grace and the lion's gravity. His dimpled and clean-shaven chin was strong, and the line of his lips firm. His eyes were steady and penetrating, giving an impression of reticence. His hands were slender and brown, and soft in the palms as those of a girl. The citizens marveled over him as he moved slowly through the streets, thinking himself quite indistinguishable among the other young men in dark ...

— The Eagle's Heart • Hamlin Garland

... of incidents you often get, but it is not Art. The effect is produced entirely by a bald brutality of statement, the African having no artistic reticence whatsoever. One fine touch, however, which does not come in under this class was told me by my lamented friend Mr. Harris of Calabar. Some years ago he had out a consignment of Dutch clocks with hanging weights, as is natural to the Dutch clock. ...

— Travels in West Africa • Mary H. Kingsley

... comical reticence, 'I never allow myself to criticise the conduct of a person who honors me with the gift ...

— La Grande Breteche • Honore de Balzac

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