terse
Americanadjective
-
neatly or effectively concise; brief and pithy, as language.
- Synonyms:
- compendious, epigrammatic, brief, compact, succinct
adjective
-
neatly brief and concise
-
curt; abrupt
Related Words
See concise.
Other Word Forms
- tersely adverb
- terseness noun
- unterse adjective
- unterseness noun
Etymology
Origin of terse
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin tersus, past participle of tergēre “to rub off, wipe off, clean, polish”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Designer Rob Janoff said that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs gave him one terse instruction when he commissioned a new logo in January 1977: "don't make it cute".
From Barron's • Mar. 29, 2026
More forms and records gathered sooner means fewer terse emails from your grouchy accountant — and less time waiting for your refund.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 17, 2026
His manner showed how personal this was to him, delivering terse and sometimes tense answers, about a series of stories that he said had "commercialised" his private life and those close to him.
From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026
Progress was slow, law-enforcement officials said in increasingly terse news conferences.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
It might consist of a terse statement of law, or a question on the statement, an answer to the question, a brief or lengthy commentary on a Biblical verse, and so on.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
