incisive

adjective

Definition of incisivenext
as in acidic
very clear and direct She provided an incisive analysis that changed my entire opinion on the issue.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of incisive There may always be midfield options who excite people more, who are more eye-catching or faster or more incisive. — Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026 Could Hassouna have formed a more incisive portrait of Gaza City’s wartime journalists and their actual output, giving us a sense of the group’s sociology? — Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026 Smart, funny, incisive, generous and, perhaps above all, unflappable. — Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026 Richard Brody’s incisive piece about adaptation speaks to the essential question of creative freedom as a filmmaker adapts a work of literature. — Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for incisive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incisive
  1. acidic
  2. acid
  3. ironic
  4. concise
  5. trenchant
  6. poignant
  7. acerbic
  8. sardonic
Adjective
  • The Bongulo Paneer — cooked in bamboo — with a coconut and capsicum poriyal blends peanut chutney with acidic gongura sour cream and fiery gunpowder.
    — Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Other novelists have turned to acidic, class-conscious portraits of the underemployed—see Andrew Martin and Halle Butler.
    — Ryan Chapman, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of acidic
Adjective
  • Learning to season food, growing comfortable with adding salt—and ultimately acid, spice, and sweetness—according to your own preferences, is what home cooking is all about.
    — Chris Morocco, Bon Appetit Magazine, 26 Sep. 2026
  • The idea that these two would have a five-minute-or-less breakup conversation, then plop down on the couch and happily embark on an acid trip together, strains credulity a little, even for this bizarre, codependent friend group.
    — Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of acid
Adjective
  • Her works are playful and often ironic, relentlessly experimental and not only genre-bending but form-bending, including Nox (New Directions, 2010), a box containing an accordioned elegy to her estranged brother after his death.
    — Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Game 3 was their most sound, but in ironic fashion, the Rays used the long ball to take home a 4-3 victory and advance to the American League Championship Series.
    — Ryan Morik OutKick, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of ironic
Adjective
  • Be concise—present core insights in 10 minutes, save five for discussion.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Federica Tosi Federica Tosi’s concise collection also leaned on approachable pieces conveying confidence and sense of ease.
    — Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of concise
Adjective
  • Writer-director Reed Van Dyk’s feature debut navigates tricky emotional waters but emerges as a trenchant examination of what forgiveness and penitence can look like, allowing no room for anything resembling a pat happy ending.
    — Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Over time, as the human side of the evolving machine-flesh dyad matured, WHEEP-3 shifted its attention to the silicon partner, offering trenchant critiques of the inadequacies of machine learning.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of trenchant
Adjective
  • There are other things about this book that are insightful and poignant about the nature of being a human.
    — Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Grace Carroll gives a poignant performance as the Nightingale—borne aloft with arched back and trembling, outstretched hands by other dancers, who play thorns that pierce her breast—and Adam Elmes makes a seductively sinister Dorian Gray.
    — Hannah Aizenman, New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of poignant
Adjective
  • Inextricable to Long’s art, though, is a self-awareness and acerbic wit that elevates the narrative and reminds us that humor is integral to survival, too.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Add monsters, revenge, and a sharp dose of acerbic wit, and this became a passion project for me.
    — Jack Dunn, Variety, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of acerbic
Adjective
  • But these anecdotes were leavened by her trademark sardonic humor.
    — Rodney Ho, AJC.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Though Iñárritu mined a fertile vein of sardonic humor in 2014’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), comedy has never been this grandiose director’s forte.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of sardonic

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Cite this Entry

“Incisive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incisive. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

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