Laconism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Extreme brevity in expression. rhetoric, uncountable

    "“Well, where have you been?” he said to her with offhand laconism."

  2. 2
    terseness of expression wordnet
  3. 3
    A very or notably brief expression. countable

    "The hand of PROVIDENCE writes often by abbreviatures, hieroglyphicks or short characters, which, like the Laconism on the wall, are not to be made out but by a hint or key from that SPIRIT which indited them."

Synonyms

All synonyms
laconicismbrevitybriefnessconcisenessconcisioncurtness

Example

More examples

"“Well, where have you been?” he said to her with offhand laconism."

Etymology

From Latin Laconia, from Ancient Greek Λακεδαίμων (Lakedaímōn, “the region surrounding the city of Sparta”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.