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terse

[turs] / tɜrs /


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.

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In rare cases, their votes are revealed in terse indications that they grant or deny the application, or even more rarely, as an opinion.

From Salon Jul. 3, 2026

Its sublime sweeping curve is the terse expression of a complex thought.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 27, 2026

US President Donald Trump on one occasion held a terse phone call with Netanyahu, in which he reportedly uttered an expletive.

From BBC Jun. 26, 2026

Instead of consulting, DHS sent a single terse email to the State Department, which did not even cover the topic of a country’s safety and instead asked about any general “foreign policy concerns.”

From Slate Jun. 25, 2026

“Yes,” I say again, but this time, the word sounds terse.

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

Not exactly a warm embrace of the new Warsh Fed: terser “just the facts” statements, shorter news conferences, no forward guidance, and a no-nonsense message that there’s a new sheriff in town.

From Barron's Jun. 18, 2026

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, whom I asked separately, had a terser response: “I’m gonna leave that to the medics.”

From Slate May 16, 2023

Some of his friends noticed a change in his writing style — a change that one scholar later described as a departure from “sustained argument and prolonged reflection” to a terser “telegram style.”

From Washington Post Dec. 29, 2022

I vaguely thought he'd been killed off but here he is again, leaner, terser and a damn sight colder because the arch-villain has taken his parka and it's -20 in the badlands of South Dakota.

From The Guardian Aug. 20, 2010

The terser and more resonant declaration of President Jackson, a Southerner, and the response to it which thrilled all States, South or North, outside South Carolina, had set the seal to Webster's doctrines.

From Abraham Lincoln by Godfrey Rathbone Benson, Baron Charnwood

The tersest analysis of Christie’s entry in the race has come from Christie’s target, Trump.

From Slate Jun. 7, 2023

A man crying also furnishes the Bible with its shortest, tersest line: “Jesus wept.”

From The New Yorker Oct. 4, 2018

During a post-debate gaggle, the tersest Gillespie got was when a reporter tried to get clarity on whether he plans to invite Trump to the state.

From Washington Post Sep. 21, 2017

One of the most historic presidential letters on display is also the tersest: Nixon’s resignation.

From New York Times Oct. 13, 2016

It is the directest, tersest, crudest thing we have ever seen.

From Further Foolishness by Stephen Leacock




Vocabulary lists containing terse


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