laconic

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: la=con=ic

CIDE DICTIONARY

laconic, a. [L. Laconicus Laconian, Gr. , fr. a Laconian, Lacedæmonian, or Spartan: cf. F. laconique.].

•  Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the Laconians or Spartans; brief and pithy; concise; brusque; epigrammatic. In this sense laconic is the usual form.  [1913 Webster]

  "I grow laconic even beyond laconicism; for sometimes I return only yes, or no, to questionary or petitionary epistles of half a yard long."  [1913 Webster]

  "His sense was strong and his style laconic."  [1913 Webster]
•  Laconian; characteristic of, or like, the Spartans; hence, stern or severe; cruel; unflinching.  [1913 Webster]

  "His head had now felt the razor, his back the rod; all that laconical discipline pleased him well."

Syn. -- Short; brief; concise; succinct; sententious; pointed; pithy.

laconic, n. 

 Laconism.  Addison.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

laconic, adj.
1 (of a style of speech or writing) brief; concise; terse.
2 (of a person) laconic in speech etc.

Derivative

laconically adv. laconicism n.

Etymology

L f. Gk Lakonikos f. Lakon Spartan, the Spartans being known for their terse speech

THESAURUS

laconic

Spartan, abbreviated, abridged, aposiopestic, brief, brusque, clipped, close, close-tongued, closemouthed, compact, compendious, compressed, concise, condensed, contracted, crisp, curt, cut, docked, dumb, economical of words, elliptic, epigrammatic, gnomic, indisposed to talk, mum, mute, pithy, pointed, pruned, quiet, reserved, sententious, short, short and sweet, shortened, silent, snug, sparing of words, speechless, succinct, summary, synopsized, taciturn, terse, tight, tight-lipped, to the point, tongue-tied, truncated, unloquacious, untalkative, word-bound, wordless

ROGET THESAURUS

laconic

Conciseness

N conciseness, brevity, the soul of wit, laconism, Tacitus, ellipsis, syncope, abridgment, compression, epitome, monostich, brunch word, portmanteau word, concise, brief, short, terse, close, to the point, exact, neat, compact, compressed, condensed, pointed, laconic, curt, pithy, trenchant, summary, pregnant, compendious, succinct, elliptical, epigrammatic, quaint, crisp, sententious, concisely, briefly, summarily, in brief, in short, in a word, in a few words, for shortness sake, to come to the point, to make a long story short, to cut the matter short, to be brief, it comes to this, the long and the short of it is, brevis esse laboro obscurus fio.