taciturnity

English

Etymology

From taciturn +‎ -ity, from Latin taciturnitās.

Noun

taciturnity (countable and uncountable, plural taciturnities)

1. The trait of being taciturn.
   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter VI, page 69:

     Humphries broke out more freely into speech than he had done before, for his usual characteristic was that of taciturnity.

   • 1951 February, Michael Robbins, “Sir Walter Scott and Two Early Railway Schemes”, in Railway Magazine, page 90:

     " […] and as Mr. H., with his long purse and his willingness to receive hints, is no bad card in the game, he has been brought up to Abbotsford for a week; his taciturnity has long ago fled, and he is one of the most loquacious Borderers going. […] "

   • 2021 May 3, Adam Liptak, “Justice Clarence Thomas, Long Silent, Has Turned Talkative”, in The New York Times:

     Once he is back on the bench, will Justice Thomas revert to his usual taciturnity?

2. (law, Scotland) Failure to assert a legal right in a way that implies that it is being given up.

Translations

state of being taciturn

• Catalan: taciturnitat f
• Czech: mlčenlivost f
• Dutch: zwijgzaamheid (nl) f
• French: taciturnité (fr) f
• German: Schweigsamkeit (de) f
• Greek: εχεμύθεια (el) f (echemýtheia), ολιγολογία (el) f (oligología), λακωνικότητα (el) f (lakonikótita)
• Italian: taciturnità (it) f
• Portuguese: taciturnidade f
• Serbo-Croatian: šutljivost (sh) f, mučaljivost f
• Spanish: taciturnidad f
• Swedish: tystlåtenhet (sv) c, fåordighet (sv) c, ordkarghet (sv) c
• Turkish: sessizlik (tr), suskunluk (tr)
• Ukrainian: мовчазність f (movčaznistʹ)