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.

“When he arrives at Southwark House as a terse, brusque, tricky man, you’ve already experienced his level of affection with his wife and that’s really important contextually,” Haig says.

From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026

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

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

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

Royal Brougham’s interest in what Al Ulbrickson was thinking was far from casual—much more than just a desire to fill out his daily column with yet another terse Ulbrickson quote.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Vocabulary lists containing terse

100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know

Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!

The Hunger Games

Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!

List 7

Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!