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.

The White House issued a terse statement, calling the purported draft a "complete fabrication".

From BBC • May 28, 2026

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

Flight attendants ordered an evacuation with a terse directive: Grab your passports and boarding passes, leave all luggage, get out.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 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

Her tone changes from terse and direct to something softer, and I look up to see that she’s standing right in front of him, smiling.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

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