terser; tersest
tersely
adverb
terseness
noun
terse·ness
plural -es
Examples of terse in a Sentence
Adjective
Everything about him is tidy, from his terse wit to the flecks of gray hair that fall in precise iterations around the edges of his scalp.
—
Devin Gordon, Newsweek, 29 July 2002
… Johnston stays bolted to the wheelhouse floor, wrestling the helm and jotting down notes in the ship log. His entries are terse, bullet descriptions of the unending chaos outside.
—Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm, 1997
This vicious cycle was captured succinctly in Gandhi's terse warning that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
—David McCabe, Commonweal, 11 Apr. 1997
She accepts the caller's terse expression of sympathy and duly expresses in return her appreciation for that unenviable bit of message-bearing.
—John Barth, Harper's, January 1994
She gave me a few terse instructions and promptly left the room.
could tell from his terse replies to my questions that he was in no mood to talk
Devin Gordon, Newsweek, 29 July 2002
… Johnston stays bolted to the wheelhouse floor, wrestling the helm and jotting down notes in the ship log. His entries are terse, bullet descriptions of the unending chaos outside.
—Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm, 1997
This vicious cycle was captured succinctly in Gandhi's terse warning that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
—David McCabe, Commonweal, 11 Apr. 1997
She accepts the caller's terse expression of sympathy and duly expresses in return her appreciation for that unenviable bit of message-bearing.
—John Barth, Harper's, January 1994
She gave me a few terse instructions and promptly left the room.
could tell from his terse replies to my questions that he was in no mood to talk
Recent Examples on the Web
Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 21 June 2026
In a terse decision, the state Court of Appeals upheld the law’s constitutionality.
—Robert Polner, New York Daily News, 13 June 2026
The questions appeared aimed at shaking the credibility of the witnesses, and at times led to terse exchanges or pushback.
—Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman, 10 June 2026
Kuzmenko was terse in his response about returning next season, leaving the door open but expressing limited optimism.
—Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for terse
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Adjective
As Strong spoke with state reporters this week on campus, her answers were even more clipped than usual, almost terse.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 21 June 2026
In a terse decision, the state Court of Appeals upheld the law’s constitutionality.
—Robert Polner, New York Daily News, 13 June 2026
The questions appeared aimed at shaking the credibility of the witnesses, and at times led to terse exchanges or pushback.
—Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman, 10 June 2026
Kuzmenko was terse in his response about returning next season, leaving the door open but expressing limited optimism.
—Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for terse
Cite this Entry
“Terse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terse. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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