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
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 7
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List 8
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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
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
When he came off the ice, the hug from Tutberidze seemed curt.
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2026
He greeted me with a curt nod of his head and muttered something about not really being in the mood for Talmud now but we had to go up anyway.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
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
In 1914 Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs published a taxonomy of musical instruments based on how an instrument’s sound is produced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 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
Only a few months ago, she and Curt had gone to England for the Glastonbury Festival, and later spent two days in London.
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
"See here, Mr. Jarnock," I said, perhaps rather curter than I should have done, considering what I had to say.
From Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson
For a moment Commines hesitated, annoyed by a tone curter and colder than his own, but after a glance at La Mothe's set face he motioned to the servant to go.
From The Justice of the King by Hamilton Drummond
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
The woman’s voice was curter, and the uninviting muzzle of a bull-terrier was thrust out between the door and the woman’s skirts.
From Seven Miles to Arden by Ruth Sawyer
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
They replied with the curtest of nods, and I attended them from the house.
From First Person Paramount by Ambrose Pratt
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
His salutation struck me as impertinent, so I returned it in the curtest of nods.
From The Prairie Mother by Arthur E. Becher
Definitions 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.
