Guardedness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being cautious and careful in expressing thoughts or feelings
2. A tendency to keep personal information or emotions private and controlled
3. The habit of maintaining a watchful and careful attitude to protect oneself or information

Etymology: "Guardedness" is a plain English compound: the adjective "guarded", meaning cautious or wary, with the suffix "-ness" added to turn a quality into a noun. The suffix has a long pedigree. It descends from an ancient Germanic ending that was used to build abstract nouns from adjectives, and it reached Old English in forms like "-nes," which Middle English spelled "-nesse" before the modern "-ness" settled in. The adjective behind the noun is the more interesting half. "Guarded" comes from "guard," which passed into English through Old French, where it was a form of "garder" meaning to watch over or protect, ultimately from a Germanic root shared with "ward." Its sense of holding something back in speech or feeling grew out of the older idea of standing watch over one's defences.

Synonyms: caution, reserve, reticence

Antonyms: openness, frankness, candor