terse
Americanadjective
-
neatly or effectively concise; brief and pithy, as language.
- Synonyms:
- compendious, epigrammatic, brief, compact, succinct
adjective
-
neatly brief and concise
-
curt; abrupt
Related Words
See concise.
Other Word Forms
- tersely adverb
- terseness noun
- unterse adjective
- unterseness noun
Etymology
Origin of terse
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin tersus, past participle of tergēre “to rub off, wipe off, clean, polish”
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.
All of these decisions came in response to emergency appeals, resolved with terse, unsigned orders that were issued outside the court’s regular process of holding arguments and writing detailed opinions that explain the justices’ reasoning.
The decision was announced in a terse statement, with no substantive explanation to viewers.
From Salon
Progress was slow, law-enforcement officials said in increasingly terse news conferences.
Similarly, “Rebuilding” is a tale of grief and what-ifs populated by everyday folks who speak in terse tones.
From Los Angeles Times
At the centre of it all is Prince Andrew, saying nothing now apart from his terse statement, written through gritted teeth, about his titles.
From BBC
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.
