There is a fine line between speech that is terse and to the point and speech that is too abrupt.
Source: tatoeba (1945)
Terse
/tɜːs/
Synonyms for "terse" (197 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (40)
Adjective(17 words)
Noun(4 words)
Verb(1 words)
Strong matches (59)
clippedcloseclose-tonguedclosemouthedcompactcompendiouscompressedconcentratedconcisecondensedcontractedcrispcurtcutdirectdistilleddockeddumbeasyeconomical of words
Show 16 more words
Adjective(18 words)
Noun(5 words)
Related words (98)
limpidlucidmummutenaturalneatpellucidperspicuouspetulantpithyplainplatitudinouspointedpolishedpreciseproverbialprunedpungentpurequiet
Show 39 more words
refinedreservedrestrainedroundrudesententiousshortshort and sweetshort-temperedshortenedsilentsimplesnugsparing of wordsspartanspeechlessstraightforwardsuccinctsummarysynopsizedtaciturntarttastefultauttighttight lippedtight-lippedto the pointtongue tiedtongue-tiedtrimtruncatedunaffectedungraciousunlaboredunloquaciousuntalkativeword-boundwordless
Adjective(25 words)
linguistic concisenessminimal countmonosyllabicpithierpithiestpolitical compactpunchiestpunchyquick summaryshort compositionshort explanationshort missiveshort musical pieceshort story genreshortestsnippiersnippystaccatosuccinctsuccinct wording
Show 5 more words
Noun(10 words)
monosyllablemost unembellishedone-linerromanian compactshort pieceshort reportstaccatostelegraphingthe less the betterthe shorter the better
Determiner(1 words)
one line
Verb(1 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
5 entriesMore specific
5 entriesterse descriptionterse noteterse replyterse sentenceterse statement
Collocations
6 entriesterse descriptionterse languageterse noteterse replyterse sentenceterse writing
Inflections
2 entriesmost terseterser
Derivations
3 entriessimilar
1 entriesSample sentences
17 total sentences available.
Mary's email was very terse and it was clear that she was upset about something.
Source: tatoeba (2946039)
He was always terse on the telephone.
Source: tatoeba (8826758)
He received a letter from her, but it was composed of just a few cold, terse words.
Source: tatoeba (8920111)
Showing 4 of 17 available sentences.