laconic Meaning, Definition & Usage
-
adjective satellite brief and to the point; effectively cut short; `yes'"
terse; curt; crisp.
- a crisp retort
- a response so curt as to be almost rude
- the laconic reply
- short and terse and easy to understand
WordNet
La*con"ic, La*con"ic*al adjective
(Also<
- Laconic
- Laconical
)
Etymology
L.Definitions
-
Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the Laconians or Spartans; brief and pithy; 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.
-
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. -- 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.
La*con"ic noun
Definitions
Laconism. Obs. Addison.
