Reserve: meaning, example and synonyms
Reserven. Restraint in expressing feelings or opinions; a reluctance to reveal oneself.
Example
Though the physicist's reserve made her seem aloof at conferences, colleagues who read her letters found a warmth she rarely displayed in person.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Synonyms
- reticence, restraint, aloofness, detachment
- Antonyms
- openness, effusiveness, candor, warmth
- Memory tip
- Reserve = feelings held back, like money kept in reserve.
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Check yourself: Reserve in context
Even when her research won the department's highest award, the mathematician accepted it with characteristic ______, offering only a brief nod and a few quiet words of thanks.
Answer: reserve. Accepting an honor with only a nod and quiet thanks shows restraint in expressing feelings: reserve. Obsolescence (the state of becoming outdated), aggregation (a gathering into one whole) and projection (an estimate of a future trend) don't fit.
The diarist's public ______ concealed an intense inner life; letters discovered after her death revealed passions she had never voiced even to her closest acquaintances.
Answer: reserve. An outward restraint that hid strong feelings she never voiced is reserve. Archetype (an original model), projection (an estimate of a future trend) and obsolescence (the state of becoming outdated) don't fit.