reticence

reluctance to speak

Roots

  • re-: back, again, or backward motion
  • tac: silent

Other words with the tac root

  • reticent: restrained or reluctant to speak
  • tacit: understood without being spoken
  • taciturn: habitually silent

Reticence is speech held back.

Her reticence made the committee wonder what she was not saying.

The words are present but kept behind the teeth.

Open the AstraWords vocabulary map