The noun is borrowed from Middle French réticence (modern French réticence), or derived from its etymon Latin reticentia, from reticēns + -ia.

The verb is derived from the noun.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɹɛtɪs(ə)ns/
• (America) IPA: /ˈɹɛtəs(ə)ns/, /-ɾə-/

reticence

1. (uncountable, also, figuratively) Avoidance of saying or reluctance to say too much; discretion, tight-lippedness; (countable) an instance of acting in this manner.

   Synonyms: reserve, taciturnity

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter IX, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC ↗, page 174 ↗:

     The painter's absurd fits of jealousy, his wild devotion, his extravagant panegyrics, his curious reticences—he understood them all now, and he felt sorry.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter IX, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC ↗, page 124 ↗:

     He would not give me any further clue. You must not be angry with him, Art, because his very reticence means that all his brains are working for her good. He will speak plainly enough when the time comes, be sure.

2. (uncountable) A silent and reserved nature.

   Synonyms: introversion, reservation, Thesaurus:shyness

   Antonyms: ostentation, Thesaurus:talkativeness

   • 1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, “The Dawn Again”, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC ↗, page 178 ↗:

     The determined reticence of Jasper, however, was not to be so approached. Impassive, moody, solitary, resolute, so concentrated on one idea, and on its attendant fixed purpose, that he would share it with no fellow-creature, he lived apart from human life.

3. (uncountable) Followed by of: discretion or restraint in the use of something.
4. (uncountable, proscribed) Often followed by to: hesitancy or reluctance (to do something).

   Synonyms: disinclination, hesitation

5. (countable, uncountable, rhetoric, obsolete) Synonym of aposiopesis

• reticency
• reticent
• reticently

• French: réticence
• German: Reserviertheit, Schweigsamkeit
• Italian: reticenza
• Portuguese: reticência
• Russian: молчаливость
• Spanish: reticencia

• German: Zurückhaltung
• Russian: сде́ржанность

• Russian: сде́ржанность

• Portuguese: reticência
• Spanish: reticencia

reticence (reticences, present participle reticencing; simple past and past participle reticenced)

1. (transitive, rare) To deliberately not listen or pay attention to; to disregard, to ignore.

   Synonyms: pass over