All 5 Uses of
taciturn
in
Jane Eyre
- There she sat, staid and taciturn-looking, as usual, in her brown stuff gown, her check apron, white handkerchief, and cap.†
p. 179.0 *
- Blanche Ingram, after having repelled, by supercilious taciturnity, some efforts of Mrs. Dent and Mrs. Eshton to draw her into conversation, had first murmured over some sentimental tunes and airs on the piano, and then, having fetched a novel from the library, had flung herself in haughty listlessness on a sofa, and prepared to beguile, by the spell of fiction, the tedious hours of absence.†
p. 219.6taciturnity = with a tendency to be reserved and not to talk
- She had obviously not heard anything to her advantage: and it seemed to me, from her prolonged fit of gloom and taciturnity, that she herself, notwithstanding her professed indifference, attached undue importance to whatever revelations had been made her.†
p. 225.5
- He appeared a taciturn, and perhaps a proud personage; but he was very kind to me.†
p. 426.3
- My cousins, full of exhilaration, were so eloquent in narrative and comment, that their fluency covered St. John's taciturnity: he was sincerely glad to see his sisters; but in their glow of fervour and flow of joy he could not sympathise.†
p. 455.0taciturnity = with a tendency to be reserved and not to talk
Definition:
with a tendency to be reserved and not to talk
Synonym Comparison (if you're into word choice):
Consider using reticent rather than taciturn when the reluctance to talk is brought on by a particular situation rather than being a general disposition.
Consider using reticent rather than taciturn when the reluctance to talk is brought on by a particular situation rather than being a general disposition.