Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to Laconia or its inhabitants; Lacedæmonian or Spartan.
- Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the ancient Laconians; sententious; pithy; short; brief: as, a laconic phrase.
- Characteristic of the Laconians; inexorable; stern; severe.
- Synonyms Condensed, Succinct, etc. See
concise . - noun Conciseness of language; laconicism.
- noun A concise, pithy expression; something expressed in a concise, pithy manner; a laconism: chiefly used in the plural: as, to talk in laconics.
- noun In ancient prosody, an anapestic tetrameter catalectic with a spondee instead of the penultimate anapest . So called as a variety of the tetrameter used in the Laconian or Spartan embateria.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the Laconians or Spartans; brief and pithy; concise; brusque; epigrammatic. In this sense
laconic is the usual form. - adjective Laconian; characteristic of, or like, the Spartans; hence, stern or severe; cruel; unflinching.
- noun obsolete Laconism.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Using as
few words as possible;pithy andconcise .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective brief and to the point; effectively cut short
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He brings a new meaning to the word laconic and his choice of words is as accurate as his spicing.
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Bush, on the other hand, was characterized as a laconic, likable fella who you'd want to have a beer with at a backyard cook-out.
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This style of speaking, where much was said in few words, was so usual in the whole country of Laconia, that it is still known as the laconic style.
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So, it seems that we get the word 'laconic' from the Spartans, or Laconians, of ancient Greece.
This is perfect! karenmiller 2009
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I must have some kind of laconic contempt of pleasure.
Cheeseburger Gothic » From one hell deadline into another 2009
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Plus, he wouldn't have to look up "laconic" in the dictionary.
Harold Pollack: Now It Must Be Told: Barack Obama's Worst-Kept Secret of the Campaign 2008
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The screen writers did their homework in preserving many famous sayings attributed to the Spartans, who were noted in antiquity for their "laconic" style of speaking.
Movie Review "300" 2007
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At its best, "Cop Diary" recalled the old New Yorker - not the famously twee New Yorker of the Shawn era, glorious as that could be, but an older old New Yorker, a kind of laconic blarney with roots deep in Joseph Mitchell.
A Quietly Remarkable Memoir Walks a Beat From H.U. to NYPD 2004
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Tanaka Gin was a slender, dark-faced man with the kind of laconic grace one often found in Japan's cinema detec - tives or samurai heroes.
Second Skin Lustbader, Eric 1995
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The Spartans were dignified, austere, and of few words, "laconic" in speech.
History of Education Levi Seeley 1887
pixistix commented on the word laconic
"She's terse. I can be terse. Once in flight school, I was laconic."
January 13, 2007
seanahan commented on the word laconic
Similar to spartan, for obvious reasons.
January 14, 2007
elfflame commented on the word laconic
ANGEL: Hey guys. (He looks up) Oz.
OZ: Hey.
ANGEL: Nice surprise.
OZ: Thanks.
ANGEL: Staying long?
OZ: Few days.
DOYLE: Are they always like this?
OZ: No, we're usually laconic.
Think Joss likes that word or something? :D
December 18, 2007
personinthebox commented on the word laconic
Ha ha! I remember that episode. "Angel" actually expanded my vocabulary a good bit. (Although I'm not sure if that's a good thing.)
I use it all the time and people look at me and say "Wha?" I just laugh.
February 20, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word laconic
Laconic tends to me more about spare speech, and spartan more about spare living....
August 16, 2008
qroqqa commented on the word laconic
True.
August 16, 2008
wookinpanub commented on the word laconic
"a response so curt as to be almost rude"
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/laconic
April 3, 2009
seanahan commented on the word laconic
heh
April 4, 2009
apgarian commented on the word laconic
i always think of a high school skater boy who acts like he doesn't care by hardly nodding in response to things
September 6, 2009
bilby commented on the word laconic
What exactly is a skater boy?
September 6, 2009
lweber5@scf.edu commented on the word laconic
Dictionary.com, He had a reputation for being laconic.
November 5, 2010
mohitanand commented on the word laconic
(describes a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words
While Martha always swooned over the hunky, laconic types in romantic comedies, her boyfriends inevitably were very talkative—and not very hunky.
October 11, 2016
isnotnull commented on the word laconic
Chuck Palahniuk's prose is laconic.
November 21, 2023