Taciturn - plus, trending lookups galore!

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY [August 29, 2018](#none) taciturn [Audio pronunciation]( adjective | TASS-uh-tern Definition : temperamentally [disinclined]( to talk Scroll down for more about taciturn TRENDING NOW: [mistrial]( [hogwash]( [probity]( [sequacious]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING # [What Does It Mean to ‘Thwart’ a Plan?]( # [We Know You're Concerned about 'Important' and 'Importantly']( # [The Good, The Bad, & The Semantically Imprecise - 8/24/2018]( # [Spinning the Tale of 'Spin Doctor']( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [August 2018 Words of the Day Quiz]( Quiz in the sun. [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? Taciturn shows up in English in the first half of the 18th century. James Miller, a British clergyman educated at Oxford, gives an early example of its use in his 1734 satiric drama, wherein a character describes a nephew with the following: "When he was little, he never was what they call Roguish or Waggish, but was always close, quiet, and taciturn." It seems we waited unduly long to adopt this useful descendent of the Latin verb tacēre, meaning "to be silent"; we were quicker to adopt other words from the tacēre family. We've been using [tacit](, an adjective meaning "expressed without words" or "implied," since at least the mid-17th century. And we've had the noun [taciturnity](, meaning "habitual silence," since at least the mid-15th century. Examples of TACITURN "The waiter, previously friendly and good-humored, was tonight solemn and taciturn." — Taylor Stevens, The Informationist, 2011 "One was taciturn and steady; the other was volatile and virtuosic. When Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe met in the Wimbledon singles final in 1980, they provided a compelling study in contrasts, both in personality and playing style." — Andrew R. Chow, The New York Times, 5 July 2018 Word Family Quiz Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of taciturn that is also derived from the Latin verb tacēre: IETRENTC. [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( MERCH Show Your Wordie Pride! New swag now available — featuring our newly added words welp and wordie [CHECK OUT OUR SELECTION [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( SHARE: [Facebook][Facebook]( [Twitter][Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 [www.merriam-webster.com](