réticent
French, adjective/ʁe.ti.sɑ̃/
réticent is spelled R-É-T-I-C-E-N-T (8 letters) and appears 1.1 times per million words in written French, the 28,870th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Réticent is a French adjective meaning “reserved (not sharing or disclosing much, keeping one's thoughts and opinions to oneself)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui fait preuve de réticence, qui tait volontairement ce qu’il pourrait ou devrait dire”.
What does réticent mean in English?
adjective
- 1
reserved (not sharing or disclosing much, keeping one's thoughts and opinions to oneself)
- 2
reluctant (unwilling, offering resistance, not wanting to take some action)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui fait preuve de réticence, qui tait volontairement ce qu’il pourrait ou devrait dire. 2. Qui dénote l’omission volontaire de ce qui pourrait ou devrait être dit. 3. Qui contient des omissions volontaires. 4. Qui fait preuve de réserve et de désapprobation, qui manque de bonne volonté (être réticent à, envers, à l’égard de quelqu'un ou quelque chose ou à faire quelque chose).
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of réticent
- réticente feminine
- réticents masculine plural
- réticentes feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce réticent?
- /ʁe.ti.sɑ̃/
- \ʁe.ti.sɑ̃\
- \ʁe.tis\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to réticent
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is réticent in French?
réticent appears 1.1 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).