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 2000I 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, 1997He 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 1997Unlike 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 WebBut the pithy contradiction shows that Allen is incapable of a European’s moral complexity, although he was enticed by it and admired it.—Armond White, National Review, 5 Apr. 2024 When asked how big a growth opportunity the AI wave could be for his namesake company, Dell Technologies, the founder and longtime chief executive doesn’t offer up any pithy one-liners but instead ruminates in real time.—Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune, 25 Mar. 2024 See all Example Sentences for pithy
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pithy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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