incisive
adjective
Did you know?
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
Caroline Ritzie, Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 Jan. 2026
Without Guimaraes, Newcastle lack material creativity — his ability to dictate and pick incisive passes — and also lack something far less tangible.
—Chris Waugh, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2026
While the novel’s narrative engine is the incredibly inappropriate age-gap relationship, the book’s most incisive commentary revolves around Waldo’s inability to stop online shopping during bouts of intense emotion.
—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
See All Example Sentences for incisive
Cite this Entry
“Incisive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incisive. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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incisive
adjective
Medical Definition
incisive
adjective
