Meanings
comparative terser · superlative tersest
- broadlyOf speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.
Your last series contains some of the neatest, tersest, and most unpretendingly original criticism, I have lately met with.
1832 September, [John Wilson], “Noctes Ambrosianae. No. LXII.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXII, number CXCVIII, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 4095 more examples
In eight terse lines has Phædrus told / (So frugal were the Bards of old) / A Tale of Goats; and clos'd with grace / Plan, Moral, all, in that ſhort space.
1777, [George Riley], The Asses Ears, a Fable. Addressed to the Author of The Goat's Beard [William Whitehead], London: Printed for G. Riley, […], →OCLC; quoted in “Art. VIII. Asses Ears: A Fable. Addressed to the Author of The Goat’s Beard. 4to. 6d. Riley. 1777. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume LVI, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], March 1777, →OCLC, page 194The book contains some happily done portrait touches of Napoleon, [...] and this and other aphoristical sentences scattered throughout this volume, [...] form as terse and trenchant a character-sketch of the Emperor as may be found almost anywhere.
1902, G. W. Parker, “Things and Other Things: Letters to Living Authors—IX. Sir [Arthur] Conan Doyle”, in Donald Macleod, editor, Good Words, London: Isbister and Company Limited […], →OCLC, page 817, column 1Many protested that they had nothing to do with the fighting. At a word from the General the soldiers ripped off the men's shirts and examined the front of their shoulders. If they found bruises that might have been made from the butt of a gun when it had been fired—the terse order was, "Shoot him!" And many of the young men of Trujillo had disappeared.
1946, Clayton Knight, The Quest of the Golden Condor, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, page 94[...] [Samuel] Beckett has become virtually mute, musewise, having progressed from marvellously constructed English sentences through terser and terser French ones to the unsyntactical, unpunctuated prose of Comment C'est and 'ultimately' to wordless mimes.
1977, John Barth, “The Literature of Exhaustion”, in Malcolm Bradbury, editor, The Novel Today: Contemporary Writers on Modern Fiction, Manchester: Manchester University Press by arrangement with Fontana Books; Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, →ISBN, page 73Mr SPEAKER: If the honourable member could be terse. / Mr O'Flynn: I shall be very terse. It may be my fault, Mr Speaker, but I doubt if you have quite appreciated the point.
1979 August 23, John Richard Harrison, Speaker of the House; Francis Duncan O’Flynn, “[Questions for Oral Answer] Leased Cars—Exemptions”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): First Session, Thirty-ninth Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 425, Wellington: P. D. Hasselberg, government printer, published 1980, →OCLC, page 2480Synonyms: concise, succinct, brief, concise, crisp, laconic, lapidary, short-winded · Antonyms: prolix, verbose, wordy, circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic
- broadlyOf manner or speech: abruptly or brusquely short; curt.
My voice was terser than I intended, but what the hell. The night was turning out to be interesting in some ways and extremely frustrating in others.
2018, Zara Cox, Close to The Edge (Mills & Boon Dare), London: Mills & Boon, →ISBN1 more example
'Laura!' The voice halting her was terse. Brusque. She turned. [...] 'Before I go,' he said, and his voice was terse, tighter than ever. 'I want to ensure you understand something.'
2008, Julia James, The Italian's Rags-to-riches Wife (Bedded by … Blackmail; Harlequin Presents; 2716), Toronto, Ont.; New York, N.Y.: Harlequin, →ISBN, page 107Synonyms: abrupt, brusque, mardy, short-spoken
- obsoleteBurnished, polished; fine, smooth; neat, spruce.First known use early 17th c.
By Phœbus, here's a moſt neate fine ſtreete; is't not? I proteſt to thee, I am enamord of this ſtreete now, more then of halfe the ſtreetes of Rome, againe; tis ſo polite, and terſe; [...]
1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.
adjectiveOf manner or speech: abruptly or brusquely short; curt.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latintergeō, tergō“to clean, cleanse, rub, wipe, wipe off”
- Latintersus“clean, cleansed, rubbed or wiped off; neat, spruce; terse”
- Englishterse
From Latin tersus (“clean, cleansed, rubbed or wiped off; neat, spruce; terse”), perfect passive participle of Latin tergeō, tergō (“to clean, cleanse, rub, wipe, wipe off”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek στρογγύλος
- στρογγύλος (strongúlos)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Bulgarian сбит, стегнат
- сбит (sbit)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- стегнат (stegnat)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- кратък (kratăk)abruptly or brusquely short
- рязък (rjazăk)abruptly or brusquely short
Chinese Mandarin 簡 /简, 簡短 /简短
- 簡 /简 (jiǎn)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- 簡短 /简短 (jiǎnduǎn)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- 簡潔 /简洁 (jiǎnjié)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- 簡明 /简明 (jiǎnmíng)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- 精練 /精练 (jīngliàn)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- 緊湊 /紧凑 (jǐncòu)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- 洗練 /洗练 (xǐliàn)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Czech strohý, strohý
- strohýbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- strohýabruptly or brusquely short
Danish kortfattet
- kortfattetabruptly or brusquely short
Dutch bondig, pittig
- bondigbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- pittigbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Finnish niukkasanainen, niukkasanainen
- niukkasanainenbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- niukkasanainenabruptly or brusquely short
- töksähtäväabruptly or brusquely short
French laconique, laconique
- laconiquebrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- laconiqueabruptly or brusquely short
- lapidaireabruptly or brusquely short
German knapp, markig
- knappbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- markigbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- prägnantbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- kurz angebundenabruptly or brusquely short
- wortkargabruptly or brusquely short
Greek λακωνικός, λιτός
- λακωνικός (lakonikós)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- λιτός (litós)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- απότομος (apótomos)abruptly or brusquely short
Hebrew לקוני
- לקוניbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Hungarian tömör
- tömörbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Icelandic stuttur og gagnorður, stuttur og laggóður
- stuttur og gagnorðurbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- stuttur og laggóðurbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Irish cóngarach, gonta
- cóngarachbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- gontabrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Italian asciutto, essenziale
- asciuttobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- essenzialebrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- laconicobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- scabrobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- stringatobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- sinteticobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Japanese 簡明な, ぶっきらぼうな
- 簡明な (kanmei na)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- ぶっきらぼうな (bukkirabō na)abruptly or brusquely short
Latin adductus, contractus
- adductusbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- contractusbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Polish jędrny, lakoniczny
- jędrnybrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- lakonicznybrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- lapidarnybrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- zwięzłybrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- krótkiabruptly or brusquely short
Portuguese conciso, breve
- concisobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- breveabruptly or brusquely short
- curtoabruptly or brusquely short
- diretoabruptly or brusquely short
- lacónicoabruptly or brusquely short
- resumidoabruptly or brusquely short
- sucintoabruptly or brusquely short
- sintéticoabruptly or brusquely short
Russian ко́ваный, кра́ткий
- ко́ваный (kóvanyj)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- кра́ткий (krátkij)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- немногосло́вный (nemnogoslóvnyj)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- лакони́чный (lakoníčnyj)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- односло́жный (odnoslóžnyj)abruptly or brusquely short
Spanish conciso, lacónico
- concisobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- lacónicobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- parcobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- escuetobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- sucintobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- tersobrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- bruscoabruptly or brusquely short
- lacónicoabruptly or brusquely short
- cortanteabruptly or brusquely short
- secoabruptly or brusquely short
- escuetoabruptly or brusquely short
- telegráficoabruptly or brusquely short
Swedish koncis, kortfattad
- koncisbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- kortfattadbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- lapidariskbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Turkish kısa ve öz, veciz
- kısa ve özbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- vecizbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Ukrainian стислий, небагатослівний
- стислий (styslyj)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
- небагатослівний (nebahatoslivnyj)brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Vietnamese cộc lốc
- cộc lốcabruptly or brusquely short
Welsh cyhyrog
- cyhyrogbrief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with terse
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
terse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terse
“terse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terse. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “terse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terse.
Source: terse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.