curt
adjective
rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner.
curt
1 American
[kurt]
/ kɜrt /
adjective
-
curter,
comparative
-
curtest
superlative
-
rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner.
-
brief; concise; terse; laconic.
-
short; shortened.
- Synonyms:
- abbreviated
Curt
2
American
[kurt]
/ kɜrt /
noun
curt
British
/ kɜːt /
adjective
-
rudely blunt and brief; abrupt
a curt reply
-
short or concise
Synonym Usage
See blunt.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of curt
First recorded in 1620–30, curt is from the Latin word curtus “shortened, short, cut short”
Explanation
I’m sorry to be curt, but let's get right to the point. You should use the adjective curt to describe a way of speaking that’s brief and blunt. Curt often just means "terse." In fact it comes from the Latin word curtus, which means “cut short, abridged.” But sometimes it has the added sense of being rudely short, like when you’re irritated that someone’s asking a foolish question so you give a brusque, curt response.
Vocabulary lists containing curt
The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 7
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
List 8
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Wall Street is still getting familiar with Warsh’s curt style and dislike of providing forward guidance.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Djokovic can be curt, but more often he’s contemplative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
A few unnecessarily curt speech interruptions threatened the calm, but mainly, this was a smoothly run machine of a show, devoid of mishaps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
When asked directly whether the administration has a social media problem during Tuesday’s press briefing, Leavitt’s answer was a curt “No.”
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2026
Min’s interruption could hardly have been more abrupt, but the curt words swept over Tree-ear like cool rain over a parched field.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
And a Black athlete empowered to stand for Black people is an athlete who should expect to be persecuted, like Curt Flood, whom Kaepernick mentioned.
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2026
“He decided to be extremely quiet and stay as far away from the Iran debacle as possible,” said Curt Mills, the executive director of the American Conservative Magazine, an anti-interventionist publication.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
She married and divorced actor Don Mitchell and later married baseball legend Curt Flood, who took a stand against baseball’s reserve clause and died in 1997.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
Delgado-Aparicio and Regan led the project with guidance from Curt Bolton of FES.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026
Curt would open the fridge, hold up a container labeled “hair butter,” and ask, “Okay to spread this on my toast?”
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Karim gave a curt reply in Russian, which the soldier returned with an even curter retort.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
He stood up, and made another bow, much curter than his former one.
From The Ivory Trail by Talbot Mundy
Saxham's patients found him even curter and more brusque in manner than usual that evening, and the article for the Scientific Review made little way.
From The Dop Doctor by Richard Dehan
And he became curter and curter, as he noticed the new deference which even Clara practised towards him.
From Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
Maybe the possessive form of address: "Mon general," "mon capitaine," helps the idea, which our men cloke in other and curter phrases.
From France at War On the Frontier of Civilization by Rudyard Kipling
Luis Enrique thought for a couple of seconds, looked straight back at the questioner, and gave the curtest of replies.
From Fox News ● Jul. 5, 2021
He came from behind a sea of maps to grant the curtest interview I have ever had.
From Time Magazine Archive
The following dates show that I was kept waiting six weeks before being finally favoured with the curtest of refusals: Application made on September 13th, and sent on.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 14 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
The two rarely met, for that matter, and exchanged only the baldest and curtest forms of speech.
From The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic
She informed him of the bare fact in the curtest manner, without preface or apology or explanation.
From The Three Sisters by May Sinclair
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
