Laconic, Laconical, a.
Etymology: [L. Laconicus Laconian, Gr. laconique.]
1. Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the Laconians or Spartans; brief and pithy; brusque; epigrammatic. In this sense laconic is the usual form. I grow laconic even beyond laconicism; for sometimes I return only yes, or no, to questionary or petitionary epistles of half a yard long. Pope. His sense was strong and his style laconic. Welwood.
2. Laconian; characteristic of, or like, the Spartans; hence, stern or severe; cruel; unflinching. His head had now felt the razor, his back the rod; all that laconical discipline pleased him well. Bp. Hall.
Syn. -- Short; brief; concise; succinct; sententious; pointed; pithy. -- Laconic, Concise. Concise means without irrelevant or superfluous matter; it is the opposite of diffuse. Laconic means concise with the additional quality of pithiness, sometimes of brusqueness.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Laconic, n.
Laconism. [Obs.] Addison.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for laconic; he lists it under terse.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.