Laconic

Concise or terse statement
Laconic refers to a concise or terse statement, especially a blunt and elliptical rejoinder. It is named after Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta, whose ancient inhabitants had a reputation for verbal austerity and were famous for their often pithy remarks. In current use, laconic means “terse” or “concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious”.

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laconic
adjective
la·;con·;ic l;-;k;-nik
Synonyms of laconic
: using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious
laconically
l;-;k;-ni-k(;-)l;
 adverb


Did you know?
We’ll keep it brief. Laconia was an ancient country in southern Greece. Its capital city was Sparta, and the Spartans were famous for their terseness of speech. Laconic comes to us by way of Latin from Greek Lak;nikos, meaning “native of Laconia.” In current use, laconic means “terse” or “concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious,” and thus recalls the Spartans’ taciturnity.

Synonyms
aphoristic
apothegmatic
brief
capsule
compact
compendious
concise
crisp
curt
elliptical
elliptic
epigrammatic
monosyllabic
pithy
sententious
succinct
summary
telegraphic
terse
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Choose the Right Synonym for laconic

concise, terse, succinct, laconic, summary, pithy, compendious mean very brief in statement or expression.

concise suggests the removal of all that is superfluous or elaborative.

a concise description
terse implies pointed conciseness.

a terse reply
succinct implies the greatest possible compression.

a succinct letter of resignation
laconic implies brevity to the point of seeming rude, indifferent, or mysterious.

an aloof and laconic stranger
summary suggests the statement of main points with no elaboration or explanation.

a summary listing of the year's main events
pithy adds to succinct or terse the implication of richness of meaning or substance.

a comedy sharpened by pithy one-liners
compendious applies to what is at once full in scope and brief and concise in treatment.

a compendious dictionary
Examples of laconic in a Sentence
We would rather have a smiling, shape-shifting Democrat we don't trust than a frowning, laconic Republican we trust more.
—Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 10 Oct. 1996
The closest anyone comes to announcing his destination is a laconic "Guess I'll head on in."
—Richard Rhodes, The Inland Ground, 1991
… towards the father—laconic, authoritarian, remote, an immigrant who'd trained in Galicia to be a rabbi but worked in America in a hat factory—their feelings were more confused.
—Philip Roth, Granta 24, Summer 1988
He had a reputation for being laconic.
the sportscaster's color commentary tends to be laconic but very much to the point
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Set in writer-director Sierra Falconer’s old stomping grounds — among the cozy, neighborly community that surrounds a scenic lake in northern Michigan — the pleasantly laconic anthology film debuted in U.S. dramatic competition at Sundance.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 5 Feb. 2025
Audiences have often struggled with his oddball and laconic tendencies, and The Return only gave people more to complain about, what with its dense mysteries that veered far from the coffee-and-donuts shenanigans of its network-TV run.
—K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2025
Cheung, for instance, lends her invaluable comedic timing to a laconic factory worker and then is brittle and heartbreaking as a mother mourning a tech-wiz daughter.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 6 Feb. 2025
The film’s honesty, whether loquacious or laconic, sears even more in the absence of a score.
—Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2025

Word History
Etymology
Latin laconicus Spartan, from Greek lak;nikos; from the Spartan reputation for terseness of speech

First Known Use
1589, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of laconic was in 1589