terse

terse
adjective

we were offended by her terse answers

Syn:
brief, short, to the point, concise, succinct, crisp, pithy, incisive, trenchant, short and sweet, laconic, elliptical; brusque, abrupt, curt, clipped, blunt, pointed, ungracious, gruff
Ant:
long-winded, polite
••
terse, concise, laconic, pithy, succinct
If you don't like to mince words, you'll make every effort to be concise in both your writing and speaking, which means to remove all superfluous details (a concise summary of everything that happened). Succinct is very close in meaning to concise, although it emphasizes compression and compactness in addition to brevity (succinct instructions for what to do in an emergency). If you're laconic, you are brief to the point of being curt, brusque, or even uncommunicative (his laconic reply left many questions unanswered). Terse can also mean clipped or abrupt (a terse command), but it usually connotes something that is both concise and polished (a terse style of writing that was much admired). A pithy statement is not only succinct but full of substance and meaning (a pithy argument that no one could counter).

Thesaurus of popular words. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу
Synonyms:
(with elegance), , , , , , , , ,


Look at other dictionaries:

  • terse — terse …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • Terse — Terse, a. [Compar. {Terser}; superl. {Tersest}.] [L. tersus, p. p. of tergere to rub or wipe off.] 1. Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Many stones, . . . although terse and smooth, have not this …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • terse — [ tɜrs ] adjective a terse statement or remark is very short and often shows that the person making it is annoyed ╾ terse|ly adverb ╾ terse|ness noun uncount …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • terse´ly — terse «turs», adjective, ters|er, ters|est. brief and to the point (said of writing and speaking, or writers and speakers): »“No” was Father s terse reply when I asked to play after bedtime. SYNONYM(S): See syn. under concise. (Cf. ↑concise …   Useful english dictionary

  • terse — [tə:s US tə:rs] adj [Date: 1600 1700; : Latin; Origin: tersus clean, neat , from tergere to wipe off ] a terse reply, message etc uses very few words and often shows that you are annoyed ▪ Derek s terse reply ended the conversation. >tersely… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • terse — terse; terse·ly; terse·ness; …   English syllables

  • terse — index cohesive (compact), compact (pithy), laconic, pithy, sententious, succinct Burton s Legal Thesauru …   Law dictionary

  • terse — (adj.) 1590s (implied in tersely), clean cut, burnished, neat, from Fr. ters clean, from L. tersus wiped off, clean, neat, from pp. of tergere to rub, polish, wipe. Sense of concise or pithy in style or language is from 1777, which led to a… …   Etymology dictionary

  • terse — *concise, succinct, laconic, summary, pithy, compendious Analogous words: *brief, short: compact, *close: *expressive, sententious, meaningful: *incisive, crisp, clear cut …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • terse — [adj] brief, short abrupt, aphoristic, boiled down*, breviloquent, brusque, clear cut, clipped, close, compact, compendiary, compendious, concise, condensed, crisp, cryptic, curt, cut to the bone*, elliptical, epigrammatic, exact, gnomic, in a… …   New thesaurus

  • terse — ► ADJECTIVE (terser, tersest) ▪ sparing in the use of words; abrupt. DERIVATIVES tersely adverb terseness noun. ORIGIN originally in the sense «polished, trim»: from Latin tersus wiped, polished …   English terms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”