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Reticent vs Reserve - What's the difference?

reticent | reserve |

As adjectives the difference between reticent and reserve

is that reticent is reluctant; reticent while reserve is reserved.

reticent

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Keeping one's thoughts and opinions to oneself; reserved or restrained.
  • * 1856 , :
  • They are slow and reticent , and are like a dull good horse which lets every nag pass him, but with whip and spur will run down every racer in the field.
  • * 1870 , , ch XXIII:
  • But he was a reticent as well as an eccentric man; and he made no mention of a certain evening when he warmed his hands at the gatehouse fire, and looked steadily down upon a certain heap of torn and miry clothes upon the floor.
  • * 1891 , , ch LIV:
  • She had told him she was not now at Marlott, but had been curiously reticent as to her actual address, and the only course was to go to Marlott and inquire for it.
  • * 1915 , , ch 3:
  • The milkman had been released, I read, and the true criminal, about whose identity the police were reticent , was believed to have got away from London by one of the northern lines.
  • * 1922 , :
  • The inhabitants of that street impressed me peculiarly; At first I thought it was because they were all silent and reticent ; but later decided it was because they were all very old.
  • * 1922 , , ch XXV:
  • But they were not reticent enough to prevent the circulation of certain uneasy rumours and extravagant stories of discreditable adventures.

    Synonyms

    * reserved, restrained, tight-lipped * See also

    reserve

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) Restriction.
  • # The act of reserving, or keeping back; reservation; exception.
  • .
  • # Restraint of freedom in words or actions; backwardness; caution in personal behavior.
  • That which is reserved, or kept back, as for future use.
  • # A natural resource known to exist but not currently exploited.
  • #*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-04-25, author= Martin Lukacs
  • , volume=190, issue=20, page=13, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Canada becoming launch-pad of a global tar sands and oil shale frenzy , passage=If Alberta’s reserves are a carbon bomb, this global expansion of tar sands and oil shale exploitation amounts to an escalating emissions arms race, the unlocking of a subterranean cache of weapons of mass ecological destruction.}}
  • # A tract of land reserved, or set apart, for a particular purpose; as, the Connecticut Reserve in Ohio, originally set apart for the school fund of Connecticut; the Clergy Reserves in Canada, for the support of the clergy.
  • # (label) A tract of land set apart for the use of an Aboriginal group; Indian reserve (compare US (reservation).)
  • # (label) A body of troops kept in the rear of an army drawn up for battle, reserved to support the other lines as occasion may require; a force or body of troops kept for an exigency.
  • # (label) Funds kept on hand to meet planned or unplanned financial requirements.
  • # Wine held back and aged before being sold.
  • (label) Something initially kept back for later use in a recreation.
  • # (label) A member of a team who does not participate from the start of the game, but can be used to replace tired or injured team-mates.
  • # (label) A group or pile of cards dealt out at the beginning of a patience or solitaire game to be used during play.
  • Synonyms

    * reservation, res * (restraint of freedom in words or actions) self-restraint, reticence, taciturnity * substitute * (tract of land for Aboriginal peoples) rez

    Derived terms

    * Federal Reserve * Federal Reserve System * nature reserve * reserve bank * reserve price * wildlife reserve

    Verb

  • To keep back; to retain.
  • We reserve the right to make modifications.
  • To keep in store for future or special use.
  • This cake is reserved for the guests!
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Reserve your kind looks and language for private hours.
  • To book in advance; to make a reservation.
  • I reserved a table for us at the best restaurant in town.
  • (obsolete) To make an exception of; to except.
  • Anagrams

    * * * ----