Definitions

terse

[turs] / tɜrs /

ADJECTIVE

brief, short

Synonyms

STRONGEST

brusque concise cryptic curt elliptical incisive laconic pithy precise succinct trenchant

WEAK

abrupt aphoristic boiled down breviloquent clear-cut clipped close compact compendiary compendious condensed crisp cut to the bone epigrammatic exact gnomic in a nutshell lean neat pointed sententious short and sweet snappy summary taut to the point

Antonyms

STRONGEST

gentle kind lengthy long-winded nice polite verbose wordy

WEAK

prolix

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.

At a terse press conference in Islamabad, Vance delivered the "bad news" and took just three questions before getting on a plane for the long flight back home.

From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026

Loznitsa includes multiple terse scenes of Kornev walking up endless stairs or waiting for a perturbed guard to unlock a door that will lead him to another door that also requires a key.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

When OpenAI was debating how to make its model’s personality more “fun,” Codex product lead Alexander Embiricos spotted a power user arguing on X that the model should actually be more terse and concise.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 21, 2026

Epstein mostly fires back terse, business-like, poorly punctuated replies - if any.

From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026

I took it instead as one long message, broken into parts, terse communiques from her moments of despair.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Vocabulary lists containing terse

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