breviloquent

American  

[bre-vil-uh-kwuhnt] / brɛˈvɪl ə kwənt /

adjective

1. speaking or expressed in a concise or terse style; using brevity of speech.

   In the memorial to her family, references to her brother were tellingly breviloquent.

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Other Word Forms

• breviloquence noun
• breviloquently adverb

Etymology

Origin of breviloquent

First recorded in 1895–1900; brevi- ( def. ) + Latin loquent-, stem of loquēns, present participle of loquī “to speak”

Explanation

Anyone who's breviloquent manages to say a lot using a small number of words. A perfectly expressive, deeply moving haiku is a breviloquent form of poetry — just three brief lines. Speaking with brevity, or conciseness, makes you breviloquent. Both words are derived from the Latin root brevis, or "short." If you like to keep things short and sweet, your friends may describe you as breviloquent. And while some writers produce fat, sprawling novels of 600 pages, others create breviloquent poems using very few, carefully chosen words.

Example Sentences

For the better part of 30 years, men’s shorts have been inching away from their own breviloquent description.

From New York Times • Mar. 10, 2011

Related Words

• brusque
• concise
• cryptic
• curt
• elliptical
• incisive
• laconic
• pithy
• precise
• succinct
• trenchant