terse
UK/tɜːs/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/təːs/
terse adjective: of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.
Adjective
terse (comparative terser, superlative tersest)
- Of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.
- 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....
- 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...
- Synonyms:
- concise, succinct, brief, crisp, laconic, lapidary, short-winded, tight, to the point, taut
- Antonyms:
- prolix, verbose, wordy, circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic, rigmarole, sesquipedalian
- Of manner or speech: abruptly or brusquely short; curt.
- '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 107
- 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, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- abrupt, brusque, mardy, short-spoken
- Burnished, polished; fine, smooth; neat, spruce.
- 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
terse meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
terse in Tamil
- சொற்செறிவான, நறுக்கான
terse in Urdu
- درشت, مختصر, ٹھوس
terse in Bengali
- সংক্ষিপ্ত ও অর্থপূর্ণ
terse in Malayalam
- സംക്ഷിപ്തമായ, ചുരുങ്ങിയ, തേച്ചുമിനുക്കാത്ത
More languagesFewer languages
- terse in Kannada
- ಬಿಗಿ, ಒರಟು, ಬಿಗಿಯಾದ, ಒರಟಾದ
- terse in Gujarati
- મિતભાષી mitbhāṣī
- terse in Vietnamese
- cộc lốc
Examples of terse in a sentence
- 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:
- Mr SPEAKER: If the honourable member could be terse. / Mr O'Flynn: I shall be very terse.1979 August 23, John Richard Harrison, Speaker of the House; Francis Duncan O’Flynn, “[Questions for Oral Answer] Leased Cars—Exemptions”...
- 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...
Synonyms of terse
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of terse
| comparative | terser |
|---|---|
| superlative | tersest |
Origin of terse
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”).
Words formed from terse
Words that rhyme with terse
36 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- purse
- worse
- -verse
- coerce
- converse
- excurse
- immerse
- multiverse
- obverse
- terce
- amerce
- asperse
- herse
- neurodiverse
- perse
- reimburse
- transverse
- a blessing and a curse
- absterse
- accurse
- costotransverse
- demerse
- disburse
- Erse
- intertransverse
- megadiverse
- murse
- nontransverse
- pretransverse
- public purse
- recurse
- renverse
- sperse
- submerse
- subtransverse
- thurse
Questions about terse
- What does terse mean?
- Terse means of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.
- What is terse in Tamil?
- Terse in Tamil is சொற்செறிவான, நறுக்கான. See Terse meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use terse in a sentence?
- 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 part of speech is terse?
- Terse is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce terse?
- Terse is pronounced /tɜːs/ (UK).
Words near terse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: terse (page history and authors); terse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); terse (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); terse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); terse (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); terse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-terse.ogg.
Cite this entry: “terse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/terse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.