Select the word that best captures the tone implied by tacit in the context below.

Zhang chaired the student council meeting with a calm that looked effortless, though he had rehearsed every agenda item. When the proposal to restrict club funding came up, several members exchanged glances but said nothing. The silence was not neutral; it carried a weight, as if the room had decided that challenging the plan would be inconvenient. Zhang noticed how quickly quiet can become a kind of permission. He asked for objections, and still no one spoke. Later, in the hallway, members complained that the policy was unfair, yet they had offered only tacit acceptance when it mattered. Zhang felt frustrated, not because they disagreed, but because their disagreement had remained hidden behind politeness. He understood that overt support and quiet compliance can produce the same outcome, even if one feels less responsible. Determined to make the council more honest, he proposed a rule requiring recorded votes on major decisions. Some students called the idea “rigid,” but Zhang insisted that transparency was kinder than ambiguity. He wanted dissent to be visible, not smothered by social comfort. As he drafted the new procedure, he wondered how many unpopular choices survive only because people mistake silence for harmlessness.