 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Laconic \La*con"ic\, noun Laconism. [Obs.] --Addison.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Laconic \La*con"ic\, Laconical \La*con"ic*al\, adjective [L. Laconicus Laconian, Gr. ??, fr. ?? a Laconian, Laced[ae]monian, or Spartan: cf. F. laconique.]
1. 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.
I grow laconic even beyond laconicism; for sometimes I return only yes, or no, to questionary or petitionary epistles of half a yard long. --Pope.
His sense was strong and his style laconic. --Welwood.
2. Laconian; characteristic of, or like, the Spartans; hence, stern or severe; cruel; unflinching.
His head had now felt the razor, his back the rod; all that laconical discipline pleased him well. --Bp. Hall.
Syn: Short; brief; concise; succinct; sententious; pointed; pithy.
Usage: {Laconic}, {Concise}. Concise means without irrelevant or superfluous matter; it is the opposite of diffuse. Laconic means concise with the additional quality of pithiness, sometimes of brusqueness.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
laconic
adjective: brief and to the point; effectively cut short; "a crisp retort"; "a response so curt as to be almost rude"; "the laconic reply; 'yes'"; "short and terse and easy to understand" [syn: {crisp}, {curt}, {terse}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
55 Moby Thesaurus words for "laconic": Spartan, abbreviated, abridged, aposiopestic, brief, brusque, clipped, close, close-tongued, closemouthed, compact, compendious, compressed, concise, condensed, contracted, crisp, curt, cut, docked, dumb, economical of words, elliptic, epigrammatic, gnomic, indisposed to talk, mum, mute, pithy, pointed, pruned, quiet, reserved, sententious, short, short and sweet, shortened, silent, snug, sparing of words, speechless, succinct, summary, synopsized, taciturn, terse, tight, tight-lipped, to the point, tongue-tied, truncated, unloquacious, untalkative, word-bound, wordless
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |