incisive
adjective
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An incisive person doesn’t hem and haw—they get straight to the point. The original meaning of incisive, from around 1600, was "having a cutting edge or piercing point"; the modern meaning of "impressively direct and decisive" has been part of English since the mid-1800s. Incisive is a close relative of incisor, which refers to a front tooth typically adapted for cutting, so it's no surprise that incisive has a specific meaning in dentistry, describing that which is of, relating to, or situated near the incisors. Both incisive and incisor come from the Latin verb caedere, meaning "to cut." English is rich in cuttings from the fruitful stem of caedere: some examples to sink your teeth into are scissors, chisel, incise ("to cut into or engrave"), excise ("to remove by cutting"), incision ("cut" or "gash"), precise ("minutely exact"), and concise ("brief").
Examples of incisive in a Sentence
Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 20 Jan. 2026
Season 2 will feature more hot up-and-coming comedians as well as Nebula creators and comedians who will bring their incisive points of view to Abolish Everything!
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 16 Jan. 2026
Bergvall, Gray and Pape Matar Sarr (currently away at the Africa Cup of Nations) offer quality ball-carrying, but are not incisive passers.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2026
Students are expected to come with an open mind, be active listeners, and ask incisive questions.
—Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes.com, 7 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Incisive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incisive. Accessed 25 Jan. 2026.
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incisive
adjective
Medical Definition
incisive
adjective
