Necessary to be a great writer?

nspeds
Sun, 14 May 2006 21:41:46 +0000

1. Inclined to keep one’s thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself. See synonyms at silent.

2. Restrained or reserved in style.

3. Reluctant; unwilling. <-----



One usually does not consider multiple definitions independently. The sense of a word comprises such definitions in their entirety. Definition three is thus tilted toward 1 and 2.

Moreover, if the foregoing argument is insufficient, examining multiple reputable dictionaries for a definition and narrowing it down to what is common among them is a sound method for deriving the traditional definition.

The Oxford American Dictionary states:



not revealing one’s thoughts or feelings readily



Edit: And even if both of the foregoing arguments are insufficient. You still technically used the term incorrectly, since you did not know that your feeling for the term corresponded with the actual definition – as is attested by your avowal of word misuse. In the current case, that your intention and actual definition roughly correspond is a coincidence.