laconic

English

WOTD – 31 March 2007    

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin Lacōnicus (“Spartan”), from Ancient Greek Λακωνικός (Lakōnikos, “Laconian”). Laconia was the region inhabited and ruled by the Spartans, who were known for their brevity in speech.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ləˈkɒnɪk/
• (GenAm) IPA: /ləˈkɑnɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒnɪk

Adjective

laconic (comparative more laconic, superlative most laconic)

1. Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise.

Synonyms

• concise, pithy, terse

Antonyms

• bombastic, long-winded, verbose, loquacious

Related terms

• laconical
• laconically
• spartan

Translations

using as few words as possible

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 簡潔 (cmn), 简洁 (cmn) (jiǎnjié)

• Czech: lakonický (cs)
• Danish: lakonisk (da), kortfattet (da)
• Finnish: lakoninen (fi), lyhytsanainen (fi), niukkasanainen (fi)
• French: laconique (fr)
• German: lakonisch (de), wortkarg (de)
• Greek: λακωνικός (el) (lakonikós)
• Hebrew: לקוני (he) (lakoni)
• Hungarian: lakonikus (hu), szűkszavú (hu), szófukar (hu)

• Italian: laconico (it) m
• Japanese: 簡潔 (ja) (かんけつ, kanketsu)
• Polish: lakoniczny (pl)
• Portuguese: lacónico (pt), lacônico (pt) (Brazil)
• Romanian: laconic (ro)
• Russian: лаконичный (ru) (lakoníčnyj), немногословный (ru) (nemnogoslóvnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: làkōnskī (sh), lakòničan (sh)
• Spanish: lacónico (es)
• Swedish: lakonisk (sv)

Anagrams

• conical