reticent

Definition

Unwilling to communicate; keeping one's thoughts and opinions to oneself; reserved or restrained.

Etymology

Latin reticēns, present participle of reticeō (“to keep silence”).

Example Sentences

• "They are slow and reticent, and are like a dull good horse which lets every nag pass him, but with whip and spur will run down every racer in the field."
• "But he was a reticent as well as an eccentric man; and he made no mention of a certain evening when he warmed his hands at the gatehouse fire, and looked steadily down upon a certain heap of torn and miry clothes upon the floor."
• "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."