Crossword clues for laconic
laconic
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Laconic \La*con"ic\, n.
Laconism. [Obs.]
--Addison.
Laconic \La*con"ic\, Laconical \La*con"ic*al\, a. [L. Laconicus Laconian, Gr. ??, fr. ?? a Laconian, Laced[ae]monian, or Spartan: cf. F. laconique.]
-
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. -
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.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"concise, abrupt," 1580s, probably via Latin Laconicus, from Greek Lakonikos, from Lakon "person from Lakonia," the district around Sparta in southern Greece in ancient times, whose inhabitants were famously proud of their brevity of speech. When Philip of Macedon threatened them with, "If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground," the Spartans' reply was, "If." An earlier form was laconical (1570s). Related: Laconically.
Wiktionary
a. Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise.
WordNet
Usage examples of "laconic".
The laconic way Piotr told the Airbus people that they would not be needing a ride home after all .
Jewels Androclus and the Lion Horatius at the Bridge Julius Caesar The Sword of Damocles Damon and Pythias A Laconic Answer The Ungrateful Guest Alexander and Bucephalus Diogenes the Wise Man The Brave Three Hundred Socrates and his House The King and his Hawk Doctor Goldsmith The Kingdoms The Barmecide Feast The Endless Tale The Blind Men and the Elephant Maximilian and the Goose Boy The Inchcape Rock Whittington and his Cat Casabianca Antonio Canova Picciola Mignon CONCERNING THESE STORIES.
He speaks, not in some cornpone hick accent, but still with a rural twang to his laconic voice.
From the corner of her awareness she saw heads turn: regulars, the counterboy, even the perpetually laconic chief of police.
Sheriff Blood was drifting over in his laconic way, not looking at either Banish or Fagin but crossing directly toward them regardless.
Leroy, his face still terribly scarred from Badajoz, answered in his laconic voice.
A laconic answer has it that a woman enjoys the act the most because with her it is sharper, repeated more frequently, and finally because the battle is fought in her field.
Under the guise of the laconic westerner his grunts and monosyllabic replies were designed to abbreviate these irritating intrusions so as to return, one foot always wedged in the door, to the bustling soundstage of the mind he spent lengthening hours of his day hiding out in.
My confession appearing rather too laconic to the sweet son of Ignatius he thought good to remonstrate with me before giving me his absolution.
By the time he had fallen asleep the night before, Sartol had convinced himself not only that Baden still believed his version of what happened by the grove, but also that he had managed to draw Baden out of his laconic shell.
By this time Beaton was in possession of one of those other selves of which we each have several about us, and was again the laconic, staccato, rather worldlified young artist whose moments of a controlled utterance and a certain distinction of manner had commended him to Mrs.
Far from considering my request, he contented himself with replying, in vulgar prose, by a laconic billet which I transcribe: 'When Cicero wrote to his friends, he avoided telling them of his affairs.
The people of that period considered it indispensable to translate the whole world into a forest of Symbols, Hints, Equestrian Games, Masquerades, Paintings, Courtly Arms, Trophies, Blazons, Escutcheons, Ironic Figures, Sculpted Obverses of Coins, Fables, Allegories, Apologias, Epigrams, Riddles, Equivocations, Proverbs, Watchwords, Laconic Epistles, Epitaphs, Parerga, Lapidary Engravings, Shields, Glyphs, Clipei, and if I may, I will stop here—but they did not stop.
I am a Romanoff by marriage merely, But I do feel a rare belittlement And loud laconic brow-beating herein!
She went first to the campmaster to ask whether he knew of a wagon going to Pfarb Durim, following his laconic directions to a large encampment among the trees in the river bottom.