tacit

See also: tàcit and Tàcit

English

WOTD – 7 February 2015

Etymology

Borrowed from late Middle French tacite, or from Latin tacitus (“that is passed over in silence, done without words, assumed as a matter of course, silent”), from tacere (“to be silent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtæsɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æsɪt
• Homophones: tacet, tasset

Adjective

tacit (comparative more tacit, superlative most tacit)

1. Implied, but not made explicit, especially through silence.

   tacit consent ― consent by silence, or by not raising an objection

   • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her scuppernongs if we didn’t jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot,

   • 1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato’s Sophist: The Drama of Original & Image, page 62:

     He does this by way of a tacit reference to Homer.

   • 2004, Lawrence Pratchett, Vivien Lowndes, editors, Developing Democracy in Europe: An Analytical Summary, →ISBN:

     […] disengagement represents a tacit rejection of governing institutions and processes, especially among young people, […]

2. (logic) Not derived from formal principles of reasoning; based on induction rather than deduction.

Derived terms

• tacitly
• tacitness
• tacit programming
• tacit collusion

Related terms

• tacet
• taciturn
• taciturnity
• taciturnly

Translations

done or made in silence; implied, but not expressed; silent

• Armenian: ենթադրվող (hy) (entʻadrvoġ), անխոս (hy) (anxos), լուռ (hy) (luṙ)
• Belarusian: маўклі́вы (mawklívy)
• Bulgarian: мълчали́в (bg) (mǎlčalív)
• Catalan: tàcit
• Czech: mlčenlivý (cs)
• Dutch: stilzwijgend (nl), non-verbaal (nl)
• Finnish: äänetön (fi), hiljainen (fi)
• French: tacite (fr)
• Georgian: ნაგულისხმევი (nagulisxmevi), მდუმარე (mdumare)
• German: stillschweigend (de), still (de), impliziert (de), unausgesprochen (de), schweigend (de)
• Greek: σιωπηρός (el) (siopirós)
• Hungarian: hallgatólagos (hu)
• Irish: tostach
• Latin: tacitus
• Macedonian: премолчен (premolčen), преќутен (preḱuten)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stilltiende

• Persian: ضمنی (fa) (zemni)
• Polish: cichy (pl), milczący (pl)
• Portuguese: tácito (pt)
• Russian: негла́сный (ru) m (neglásnyj), непи́саный (ru) m (nepísanyj), молчали́вый (ru) (molčalívyj), подразумева́емый (ru) (podrazumevájemyj) (implied), не вы́раженный слова́ми (ne výražennyj slovámi) (non-verbal, not expressed in words)
• Spanish: tácito (es), implícito (es)
• Swedish: tyst (sv), underförstådd (sv), outtalad (sv)
• Ukrainian: мовчазни́й (movčaznýj), мовчазли́вий (movčazlývyj)

not derived from formal principles of reasoning

• Bulgarian: подразби́ращ се (bg) (podrazbírašt se)
• German: stillschweigend (de), implizit (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: implisitt (no)

• Portuguese: indutivo

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} vaikiv, ^{(please verify)} sõnamatu, ^{(please verify)} väljendamatu

Further reading

• “tacit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “tacit”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• “tacit”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Attic, Catti, attic, ticat

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tacite, from Latin tacitus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taˈt͡ʃit/

Adjective

tacit m or n (feminine singular tacită, masculine plural taciți, feminine/neuter plural tacite)

1. unspoken

Declension

Declension of tacit

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	tacit		tacită		taciți	tacite
	definite	tacitul		tacita		taciții	tacitele
genitive- dative	indefinite	tacit		tacite		taciți	tacite
	definite	tacitului		tacitei		taciților	tacitelor

Further reading

• “tacit”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026