Dictionary.com

short-spoken

[ shawrt-spoh-kuhn ]
/ ˈʃɔrtˈspoʊ kən /
Save This Word!

adjective
speaking in a short, brief, or curt manner.
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?

Origin of short-spoken

First recorded in 1860–65
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use short-spoken in a sentence

  • One may be naturally cold, short-spoken and stern, the other suave and gentle, yet both be equally good leaders.

    Manpower|Lincoln Clarke Andrews
  • The next day he was as short-spoken as Bat Truxton had been the day before Hapgood had tempted him, as irritable.

    Under Handicap|Jackson Gregory
  • He is a decent, bluff, short-spoken old chap, with his heart in his work.

    Max Carrados|Ernest Bramah
  • I was trying to move the sofa at the moment and I was inclined to be short-spoken.

British Dictionary definitions for short-spoken

short-spoken

adjective
tending to be abrupt in speech
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
FEEDBACK