Learn English – Word (or phrase) to describe someone who leaves out important pieces of information

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Is there a word or phrase to describe a person, or at least the quality of a person, who tends to leave out important details when communicating? For example someone said "The store Costco is dangerous". Initially I thought he meant their have been a lot of violent crimes around Costco, but latter I found out he was trying to say Costco is so cheap you end up spending a lot of money on things you don't really need.

I would like to use the word in the sentence "Person x is very _____ " or "Person x is very _____ in his communication style".

I was thinking of the word "unclear" but often times a person is unclear for the exact opposite reason, because they add too much information.

Best Answer

The phrase [being] economical with the truth can have this meaning:

avoiding ​stating the ​true ​facts about a ​situation, or ​lying about it

{Cambridge Dictionaries online}

But dissimulation is a better fit

dissimulation (misleading by withholding pertinent information) {Wikipedia}

I'd avoid the agent noun (dissimulator), which has other connotations (at least) to do with one's beliefs etc, and sounds almost outlandish in any case.

Another term is elliptical:

elliptic or elliptical adj.

  1. a. Of or relating to extreme economy of oral or written expression.

b. Marked by deliberate obscurity of style or expression.

{AHDEL} and

  1. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) (of speech, literary style, etc) a. very condensed or concise, often so as to be obscure or ambiguous

{Collins; same link}

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