How to use terse in a sentence

11 example sentences · adjective

Terse means of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point. Example: “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.”

Examples of terse by meaning

adjectiveOf speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.

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
She announced the group's demise in a terse message to members following the annual meeting, which just 22 people attended.2012 June 4, Lewis Smith, “Queen’s English Society says enuf is enough, innit?: Society formed 40 years ago to protect language against...

adjectiveOf manner or speech: abruptly or brusquely short; curt.

'Laura!' The voice halting her was terse.2008, Julia James, The Italian's Rags-to-riches Wife (Bedded by … Blackmail; Harlequin Presents; 2716), Toronto, Ont.; New York, N.Y....
My voice was terser than I intended, but what the hell.2018, Zara Cox, Close to The Edge (Mills & Boon Dare), London: Mills & Boon, →ISBN

More sentences with terse

It is terser and allows for a greater variëty of literary forms with which to express oneself.1996 December 15, Tom Wier, “Opinions on EU language(s)”, in sci.lang (Usenet). From the entry variëty
Terse, snappy, forceful letters should be used, rather than long, verbose, repetitive, unimpressive, formlike letters.1919, Charles Albert Meyer, Mercantile Credits and Collections. From the entry formlike
Sackler offered testimony largely pocked with faint or absent recollections, terse statements and deflections to his legal team.2021 August 18, Jan Hoffman, “Richard Sackler Says Family and Purdue Bear No Responsibility for Opioid Crisis”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry pocked
Compared to other modern languages, C is much less forgiving, much more terse, and generally much more ill tempered.2012, John Ray, William Ray, Sams Teach Yourself Xcode 4 in 24 Hours, Sams Publishing, →ISBN, page 314. From the entry bare metal
A rugged landscape, two rugged men—stetsons, corduroy and denim—both gazing terse and tight-jawed at the Wyoming mountainscape. . . .2006 January 8, Jonathan Romney, “Brokeback Mountain”, in The Independent (UK), retrieved 14 Jul 2014. From the entry Marlboro Man
A terse account, with no further explanation or detail, an indication perhaps of a grudging heart behind the offering.2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 25. From the entry grudging
"A made-up one," was my terse reply. - - - So, her asking about my moniker when she was Girly Two-Hyphen Name was an audacious step to take.2006, Dorothy Koomson, My Best Friend's Girl, Random House, published 2008, →ISBN, page 25. From the entry Kamryn

Meaning of terse

adjective Of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.
adjective Of manner or speech: abruptly or brusquely short; curt.
adjective Burnished, polished; fine, smooth; neat, spruce.

Full definition of terse

Questions about terse in a sentence

How do you use terse in a sentence?: Terse is used as an adjective. For example: “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.”
What is a short sentence with terse?: “'Laura!' The voice halting her was terse.”
What does terse mean?: Terse means of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.

Adapted from Wiktionary: terse (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use terse in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/terse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.