terser; tersest
1
: using few words : devoid of superfluity
a terse summary
2
: smoothly elegant : polished
tersely
adverb
terseness
noun
Examples of terse in a Sentence
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
He was inspired by the terse, concrete lines of Gertrude Stein and the repetition printmaking of Andy Warhol.
—Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2025
That being said, the excitement in seeing a terse, emotionally stunted, semi-elderly man (after the time jump, Joel is now 61 years old) sit down to better understand his emotions is muted by the fact he’s been lying in every session.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Apr. 2025
On Wednesday morning, the government filed a terse motion seeking to dismiss the case.
—Alexander Mallin, ABC News, 9 Apr. 2025
In a terse text message, her office referred all questions about why the meeting was canceled at short notice to the State Department.
—Lorne Cook and Matthew Lee The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terse
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Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2025
That being said, the excitement in seeing a terse, emotionally stunted, semi-elderly man (after the time jump, Joel is now 61 years old) sit down to better understand his emotions is muted by the fact he’s been lying in every session.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Apr. 2025
On Wednesday morning, the government filed a terse motion seeking to dismiss the case.
—Alexander Mallin, ABC News, 9 Apr. 2025
In a terse text message, her office referred all questions about why the meeting was canceled at short notice to the State Department.
—Lorne Cook and Matthew Lee The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terse
Cite this Entry
“Terse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terse. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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