epigrammatic

American  

[ep-i-gruh-mat-ik] / ˌɛp ɪ grəˈmæt ɪk /

Also epigrammatical

adjective

1. of or like an epigram; terse and ingenious in expression.

2. containing or favoring the use of epigrams.

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Other Word Forms

• epigrammatically adverb
• epigrammatism noun
• nonepigrammatic adjective
• nonepigrammatically adverb
• unepigrammatic adjective
• unepigrammatically adverb

Etymology

Origin of epigrammatic

1695–1705; < Latin epigrammaticus < Greek epigrammatikós, equivalent to epigrammat- (stem of epígramma ) epigram + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

Husson films “Mothering Sunday” in extreme close-ups and quick, epigrammatic shots, jumping back and forth in time to Jane and Josh’s meeting “before the boys were killed,” and forward to the 1950s and beyond.

From Washington Post • Mar. 30, 2022

And yet, line for line, her epigrammatic style perhaps most recalls that of Emily Dickinson in its radical compression of images and ideas into a few chiseled lines.

From Washington Times • Sep. 2, 2020

He gives his characters some dinner-party wit that, when it sticks close to their experience, offers a spritz of epigrammatic effervescence.

From The New Yorker • May 3, 2019

Modern life has rarely been articulated with such compression and epigrammatic precision.

From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2018

While the Adams style generated a host of memorable epigrammatic flashes, it was the worst-possible vehicle for sustaining the diplomatic niceties.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis