Laconic means using very few words indeed. A laconic reply, laconic to the point of rudeness, laconic humour.
It implies dryness as well as brevity, so a laconic answer is often funny. The word carries no praise or blame of its own and takes its colour from what is left unsaid.
1adjectivelaconicUsing very few words indeed.
“His laconic answer was a single raised eyebrow and the word possibly.”
laconic is a quality.
Greek Lakonikos means of Laconia, the region around Sparta, whose people were famous for answering at the shortest possible length.
Ancient Greek
Λακωνικός — Laconian
Latin
Lacōnicus — Spartan
English, today
laconic
+ phrase Laconic phrases From Latin Lacōnicus (“Spartan”), from Ancient Greek Λακωνικός (“Laconian”). Laconia was the region inhabited and ruled by the Spartans, who were known for their brevity in speech.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA