Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Brief and to the point; effectively concise.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
terce . - Wiped; rubbed; appearing as if wiped or rubbed; smooth.
- Refined; accomplished; polished: said of persons.
- Free from superfluity; neatly or elegantly compact or concise; neat; concise.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished.
- adjective R. & Obs. Refined; accomplished; -- said of persons.
- adjective Elegantly concise; free of superfluous words; polished to smoothness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective obsolete
Polished ,burnished ;smooth ;fine ,neat ,spruce . - adjective of speech or style
Brief ,concise ,to the point . - adjective
Abruptly orbrusquely short.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective brief and to the point; effectively cut short
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word terse.
Examples
-
Ms. Diallo's lawyers received what one of them called a "terse" letter Friday inviting her to meet with prosecutors at 3 p.m. to discuss what will happen in court Tuesday.
Strauss-Kahn Case May Be Dropped Michael Rothfeld 2011
-
The one that was bolded and written in terse sentence fractions, of course, is not.
thinks 2008
-
And terse is right your elitist definition of success ignore many middle and lower class successful individuals.
-
Hence, even when I tell the truth, my speech patterns are pretty set in this way and I speak in short, terse responses and evasive answers.
Catch Phrases That May Tip You Off To A Lie | Lifehacker Australia 2009
-
Many people can fully promote their articles in short, terse, one-sentence descriptions.
OpEdNews - Diary: Help OEN Re-Design Our Front Page and Beyond 2008
-
Told in terse sentences that can read like stanzas of poetry ... this brief but powerful book is unforgettable.
Timothy: Summary and book reviews of Timothy by Verlyn Klinkenborg. 2006
-
Being terse is not a sign of being a better communicator, but it is often a sign of not having any original thoughts …
Think Progress » Bush Gives Saudi Sex Slaves the A-Okay 2005
-
His tidings were given slowly in short, terse sentences.
Sea-Dogs All! A Tale of Forest and Sea Tom Bevan
-
Back home in Glassboro a week later, Bob Thomas called the airport manager and left her what he calls a terse message.
Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian budsimmons 2010
-
Back home in Glassboro a week later, Bob Thomas called the airport manager and left her what he calls a terse message.
Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian budsimmons 2010
elfflame commented on the word terse
See laconic.
December 18, 2007