down to brass tacks

ADJECTIVE

marrowy

Synonyms

WEAK

aphoristic cogent compact concise crisp curt effective epigrammatic epigrammatical expressive honed laconic meaningful meaty pointed short short-and-sweet significant succinct terse to the point trenchant

ADJECTIVE

pithy

Synonyms

STRONGEST

cogent concise laconic succinct terse trenchant

WEAK

compact crisp curt effective epigrammatic expressive honed meaningful meaty pointed short short-and-sweet significant

Antonyms

STRONGEST

impotent lengthy long-winded weak wordy

WEAK

verbose

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.

After warm handshakes and a warning about Taiwan from Xi Jinping on Thursday, the Chinese president and Trump were due to get down to brass tacks on Friday with discussions on trade, geopolitics and AI.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

“Investors are getting down to brass tacks and saying ‘what do we want to own over the next few months,’” MAI’s Grisanti said.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 2, 2026

“Let’s get down to brass tacks: It’s too expensive to live here.”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2025

A Zen monk was present at the gathering to help oversee things, and after a few hours of small talk the cohort got down to brass tacks.

From Salon • Mar. 8, 2024

“When it comes down to brass tacks, you don’t give a damn about them. Or _ _ r> me. “

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

down to brass tacks

Example Sentences

Related Words