The following text is from Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel Little Women.
Meg’s voice was always low, but it had a reticent quality tonight, as if she feared the room itself might overhear.
As used in the text, what does the word “reticent” most nearly mean?
For SAT words-in-context questions, ignore any meaning you already know for the word and instead rely on the sentence around it. First, read a few lines before and after the word to understand the situation and the speaker’s tone (positive/negative, bold/cautious, etc.). Then, put a simple phrase of your own in place of the word that fits the context. Finally, choose the answer whose meaning is closest to your own phrase, and quickly plug it back into the sentence to confirm it still makes sense.
Hints
Focus on the description after the comma
Reread the part that begins with "as if"—what does "as if she feared the room itself might overhear" tell you about how Meg is speaking?
Decide the overall tone
Ask yourself: does Meg sound open and bold, or cautious and careful? Is she eager to be heard, or worried about being overheard?
Test each option in the sentence
Try mentally replacing “reticent” with each answer choice and see which one best fits the idea of a low voice spoken out of fear of being overheard.
Step-by-step Explanation
Use the sentence context
Look closely at the full sentence: Meg’s voice is "always low," and tonight it has a special quality, "as if she feared the room itself might overhear." This shows she is speaking in a way that suggests fear of being overheard—she is cautious and holding back.
Infer a simple meaning for “reticent”
From the context, Meg is not speaking openly or boldly; instead, she seems hesitant and unwilling to share too much out loud. A simple meaning you could plug in is something like "not willing to speak freely" or "holding back in speech."
Match your idea to the best answer choice
Now compare that idea to the answer choices: Confident suggests bold, open speech, which is the opposite of what the sentence shows. Musical describes sound quality, not caution. Angry does not fit the fearful, quiet mood. Reserved means quiet, restrained, or not openly expressive, which matches Meg’s cautious, held‑back way of speaking in the sentence, so the correct answer is C) Reserved.