concise

American  

[kuhn-sahys] / kənˈsaɪs /

adjective

1. expressing or covering much in few words; brief in form but comprehensive in scope; succinct; terse.

   a concise explanation of the company's retirement plan.

   Synonyms:

   laconic, compendious, pithy

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concise British  

/ kənˈsaɪs /

adjective

1. expressing much in few words; brief and to the point

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Synonym Usage

Concise, succinct, terse all refer to speech or writing that uses few words to say much. Concise usually implies that unnecessary details or verbiage have been eliminated from a more wordy statement: a concise summary of the speech. Succinct, on the other hand, implies that the message is as originally composed and is expressed in as few words as possible: a succinct statement of the problem. Terse sometimes suggests brevity combined with wit or polish to produce particularly effective expression: a terse, almost aphoristic, style. It may also suggest brusqueness or curtness: a terse reply that was almost rude.

Other Word Forms

• concisely
  adverb
• conciseness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of concise

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin concīsus “cut short” (past participle of concīdere ), equivalent to con- con- + -cīd- (combining form of caedere “to cut”) + -tus past participle ending

Explanation

If something is concise, it's short and gets right to the point. A concise edition of your diary might be 50 pages of the most important entries. Concise comes from the Latin word concidere, which means "to cut down." When we use concise, we're talking about words that have been cut down. There are no concise trees, but there are concise works of political philosophy. A concise Italian-English dictionary, is shorter than an unabridged one. If you're good at quick explanations, you have a concise manner. A good synonym is succinct.

Example Sentences

“Using Claude or ChatGPT, upload the job descriptions of the company, get all the relevant data you can about the role, and give it a concise prompt,” Grunewald said.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026

He has edited his solos a little; they seem more concise, but they still achieve the same goal: liftoff.

From Salon • May 28, 2026

Abel gave long, winding answers to many questions and could benefit from being more concise.

From Barron's • May 3, 2026

But the British Sight and Sound top-10 critics poll, issued every 10 years, has remained a concise standard that’s taken seriously.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

The first scribes wrote down numbers in a way that matched their base system, and predictably, did it in the most concise way they could think of.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Related Words

• pithy
• succinct
• terse