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.

Designer Rob Janoff said that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs gave him one terse instruction when he commissioned a new logo in January 1977: "don't make it cute".

From Barron's • Mar. 29, 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

Later that day, Merz’s office issued a terse statement saying Israel had notified it of the strikes shortly before they happened.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

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

From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026

Her uncle’s terse petitions were hard enough to endure; this prayer, she knew, would be a lengthy masterpiece.

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

Vocabulary lists containing terse

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