as in concision
the quality or state of being marked by or using only few words to convey much meaning
the compactness of his prose requires a close, careful reading
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Recent Examples of compactness
Arsenal’s sloppiness on the ball in the second half, alongside Liverpool’s defensive compactness and control of possession, meant that Slot’s side were rarely in danger — apart from a late corner in stoppage time.
—
Ahmed Walid, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2026
Attribute this to the show’s wonderful compactness, or to tired feet, but the behavior was unusual—people swooping toward a painting, sitting down again, returning a minute later to develop a thought or a feeling.
—Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Today’s open-source tool kits can generate millions of legally compliant plans and optimize for different fairness goals (compactness, competitiveness, minority opportunity, county splits, partisan bias).
—Newsweek Editors, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2025
While Mars has terrain that’s varied in terms of composition, elevation, and dustiness versus compactness, one vastly underappreciated aspect is how different the Martian soil composition is from Earth’s.
—Big Think, 6 Nov. 2025
The 10 tracks come in at a relatively austere 39 minutes, and Van Halen says that compactness was both organic and intentional.
—Gary Graff, Billboard, 24 Oct. 2025
Boundaries should emphasize factors such as compactness of the district, contiguous neighborhoods, preservation of communities of interest and substantially equal populations.
—Jan Goldsmith, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Sep. 2025
Ahmed Walid, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2026
Attribute this to the show’s wonderful compactness, or to tired feet, but the behavior was unusual—people swooping toward a painting, sitting down again, returning a minute later to develop a thought or a feeling.
—Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Today’s open-source tool kits can generate millions of legally compliant plans and optimize for different fairness goals (compactness, competitiveness, minority opportunity, county splits, partisan bias).
—Newsweek Editors, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2025
While Mars has terrain that’s varied in terms of composition, elevation, and dustiness versus compactness, one vastly underappreciated aspect is how different the Martian soil composition is from Earth’s.
—Big Think, 6 Nov. 2025
The 10 tracks come in at a relatively austere 39 minutes, and Van Halen says that compactness was both organic and intentional.
—Gary Graff, Billboard, 24 Oct. 2025
Boundaries should emphasize factors such as compactness of the district, contiguous neighborhoods, preservation of communities of interest and substantially equal populations.
—Jan Goldsmith, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for compactness
Noun
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While both of these features are free to all, the AI-powered proofreading tool that addresses word choice, concision and active voice is only available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.—
Jacqueline Munis,
Fortune,
8 Jan. 2026
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This conversation has been edited and condensed for concision and clarity.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
24 Dec. 2025
Noun
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The conciseness, the visual satisfaction, and the crucial interplay between image and word makes reading a good graphic novel—or, in this case, graphic memoir—an electrifying, transporting experience.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Jan. 2026
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The interview was edited for clarity and conciseness.—
Karen Kucher,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
1 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Luzzatto said the relative shortness of that term is scaring away capital.—
Matthew Geiger,
Denver Post,
19 Sep. 2025
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February was deemed an appropriate time for a special observance of Black history not because of the shortness of the month, but instead to coincide with the birthdays of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation.—
Scott Talley,
Freep.com,
15 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Compactness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/compactness. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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