Choose the Right Synonym for pithy

concise, terse, succinct, laconic, summary, pithy, compendious mean very brief in statement or expression. concise suggests the removal of all that is superfluous or elaborative. a concise description terse implies pointed conciseness. a terse reply succinct implies the greatest possible compression. a succinct letter of resignation laconic implies brevity to the point of seeming rude, indifferent, or mysterious. an aloof and laconic stranger summary suggests the statement of main points with no elaboration or explanation. a summary listing of the year's main events pithy adds to succinct or terse the implication of richness of meaning or substance. a comedy sharpened by pithy one-liners compendious applies to what is at once full in scope and brief and concise in treatment. a compendious dictionary

Examples of pithy in a Sentence

… Gore's prowess had been blurred by his performance in the Quayle debate and by his four preceding years in the Senate, where the prevailing style is indirect and woolly-swathed in layers of "my distinguished colleague" and short on zingers and pithy remarks. — James Fallows, Atlantic, July 2000 I read my poems in L.A., chatted up the literary set, waxed pithy and beleaguered at the book signings and wine and cheese receptions. — Thomas Lynch, The Undertaking, 1997 He does not hold forth to his family or to his court of old men; he listens, … then delivers short, pithy edicts that are then followed. — Guy Martin, Esquire, June 1997 Unlike a great many other science books, the pithy, lyrical text never bogs down in a mudflat of facts. — Leonard S. Marcus, Parenting, December/January 1996 The critic gave the film a pithy review. The book is filled with pithy sayings about love and loss. a pithy little Mother's Day card

Recent Examples on the Web Designed with a wealth of graphic and color images with pithy captions, the book is also peppered with amusing tweets from Tyson’s own Twitter account over the last decade. — Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, "Provocative New Neil DeGrasse Tyson Book Highlights Little-Known Cosmic Tidbits," 18 Mar. 2021 Tycho Van der Hoog begins with the pithy observation by American singer-songwriter Frank Zappa to the effect that every nation worth its salt needs an airline and its own beer. — Paul Nugent, Quartz, "What Namibia’s breweries tell us about the nation’s past," 13 Mar. 2021 His opinion was pure John Roberts: pithy, smart, with deep historical analysis leavened by a touch of sarcasm. — Linda Greenhouse, Star Tribune, "The $1 ruling and our lonely chief justice," 12 Mar. 2021 Now TikTok has its own pithy army of music theorists. — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, "The Musicological Zest of “Switched On Pop”," 1 Mar. 2021 Always listen and ask for feedback, but don’t be afraid to provide pertinent and pithy advice even if unsolicited. — Yec, Forbes, "Building Client Relationships: What To Do And What Not To Do," 5 Mar. 2021 In the age of Black Lives Matter, the desire to carve out a crisp, pithy position is greater than ever. — Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, "The Muddled History of Anti-Asian Violence," 1 Mar. 2021 Think of the helmets with the social justice messaging and the names of victims of police shootings, and the pithy phrases painted on the edge of fields. — Kurt Streeter, New York Times, "The Talk of the Super Bowl Is Quarterbacks, Except One," 25 Jan. 2021 The one hiccup in this pithy and persuasive work is a detour denouncing the broad scope of presidential authority. — Washington Post, "A fed-up judge condemns the inequities in America’s legal system," 19 Feb. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pithy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.