What does reticence mean?

Definitions for reticence
ret·i·cence

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word reticence.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. reserve, reticence, taciturnitynoun

    the trait of being uncommunicative; not volunteering anything more than necessary

Wiktionary

  1. reticencenoun

    tight-lippedness, discretion, avoidance of saying too much

  2. reticencenoun

    a silent and reserved nature

  3. Etymology: From reticentia, from reticere

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Reticencenoun

    Concealment by silence. Dict.

    Etymology: reticence, Fr. reticentia, from reticeo, Lat.

Wikipedia

  1. reticence

    Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word "modesty" comes from the Latin word modestus which means "keeping within measure". Standards of modesty are culturally and context dependent and vary widely. In this use, it may be considered inappropriate or immodest to reveal certain parts of the body. In some societies, modesty may involve women covering their bodies completely and not talking to men who are not immediate family members; in others, a fairly revealing but one-piece bathing costume is considered modest while other women wear bikinis. In some countries, exposure of the body in breach of community standards of modesty is also considered to be public indecency, and public nudity is generally illegal in most of the world and regarded as indecent exposure. For example, Stephen Gough, a lone man attempting to walk naked from south to north in the United Kingdom, was repeatedly imprisoned. However, nudity is at times tolerated in some societies; for example by Digambara monks in India, who renounce clothing for ascetic reasons, and during a World Naked Bike Ride.In semi-public contexts standards of modesty can vary by region. Nudity may be acceptable in public single-sex changing rooms at swimming baths, for example, or for mass medical examination of people for military service. In private, standards again depend upon the circumstances. A person who would never disrobe in the presence of the opposite sex in a social context might unquestioningly do so for a medical examination; others might allow examination, but only by a person of the same sex.

ChatGPT

  1. reticence

    Reticence is the quality or state of being silent, reserved, or reluctant, especially in expressing one's thoughts, feelings, or personal matters. It is often associated with introversion and shyness.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Reticencenoun

    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

  2. Reticencenoun

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

  3. Etymology: [L. reticentia: cf. F. rticence.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Reticence

    ret′i-sens, n. concealment by silence: reserve in speech—also Ret′icency.—adj. Ret′icent, concealing by silence: reserved in speech. [Fr.,—L. reticērere-, tacēre, to be silent.]

How to pronounce reticence?

How to say reticence in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of reticence in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of reticence in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of reticence in a Sentence

  1. Graham Brady:

    I think the reticence is the concern that by promising to go on a certain timetable, it might make it less likely she would secure parliamentary approval for the withdrawal agreement, rather than more likely.

  2. Bob Rubin:

    The thing that maybe was a little surprising was the reticence of the defendants to step forward and do that. she couldn't say something that wasn't true.

  3. Fernand Amandi:

    When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it? Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has refused to back down from his comments arguing during Tuesday nights debate in South Carolina that former President Barack Obama had once praised the Castro regimes progress on education and healthcare. The Vermont lawmaker said there is a reticence among Americans to look back at Washingtons own history of overthrowing foreign governments and supporting dictators. It might be a good idea to be honest of American foreign policy and that is the American government helped overthrow governments in Chile, Nicaragua, and Iran, Sanders said in reference to U.S. support in overthrowing leaders in those countries in the 1970s and 80s. Sanders reference to Obama did not sit well with former Vice President Joe Biden, who claimed that his boss never embraced an authoritarian regime, while former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg lamented that the candidates were debating about Cold War-era policies. This is not about what coups happened in the 1970s and 80s, this is about the future, Buttigieg said. Sanders comments about the Castro regime could play a large role in how he fares in Floridas March 17 primary. Sanders socialist identification and his willingness to praise leftist regimes have given his Democratic opponents ammunition to question his electability in a state with a large Cuban American population that remains fiercely skeptical of leftist governments. In Florida, where Hispanics account for nearly one in every five voters, that skepticism could present a major hurdle for Sanders in the states primary, and for Democrats hoping to win Floridas 29 electoral votes in November. According to an Associated Press survey, about a third of Cuban American midterm voters identified as Democrats. However, Democrats hardly have a lock on that vote in battleground Florida, particularly among the nearly 2 million Floridians of Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan origin. In 2018, Republican Ron DeSantis narrowly won Floridas governors mansion. While more than two-fifths of Florida Latinos voters favored DeSantis overall, a clear majority of Cuban American voters 57 percent cast their support for the Republican. Critics say Sanders needs to more strongly disavow Cuba and other authoritarian regimes. Its not just about Cuban American voters, its Hispanic voters as well, many of whom would never consider voting for an avowed socialist ....

  4. George Eliot:

    Comprehensive talkers are apt to be tiresome when we are not athirst for information; but, to be quite fair, we must admit that superior reticence is a good deal due to lack of matter. Speech is often barren, but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full nest. Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all the while be sitting on one addled nest-egg; and, when it takes to cackling, will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion.

  5. Pope Francis:

    Without doubt, even moments of great difficulty, of tormented decisions of Christian and human prudence, that to some could have seemed like reticence, were instead attempts, humanly very difficult, to keep the light of humanitarian initiatives, of hidden but active diplomacy lit, in periods of greatest darkness and cruelty, in the hope of a possible opening of hearts.

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Translations for reticence

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"reticence." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/reticence>.

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