concise

adjective

con·​cise kən-ˈsīs 

: marked by brevity of expression or statement : free from all elaboration and superfluous detail

a concise report

a concise definition

concisely adverb

conciseness noun

Did you know?

Many students think that adding unnecessary sentences with long words will make their writing more impressive. But in fact almost every reader values concision, since concise writing is usually easier to read, better thought out, and better organized—that is, simply better writing. Words such as short don't have the full meaning of concise, which usually means not just "brief" but "packed with information".

Synonyms

• aphoristic
• apothegmatic
• brief
• capsule
• compact
• compendious
• crisp
• curt
• elliptical
• elliptic
• epigrammatic
• laconic
• monosyllabic
• pithy
• sententious
• succinct
• summary
• telegraphic
• terse
• thumbnail

Choose the Right Synonym for concise

concise, terse, succinct, laconic, summary, pithy, compendious mean very brief in statement or expression.

concise suggests the removal of all that is superfluous or elaborative.

a concise description

terse implies pointed conciseness.

a terse reply

succinct implies the greatest possible compression.

a succinct letter of resignation

laconic implies brevity to the point of seeming rude, indifferent, or mysterious.

an aloof and laconic stranger

summary suggests the statement of main points with no elaboration or explanation.

a summary listing of the year's main events

pithy adds to succinct or terse the implication of richness of meaning or substance.

a comedy sharpened by pithy one-liners

compendious applies to what is at once full in scope and brief and concise in treatment.

a compendious dictionary

Examples of concise in a Sentence

That is as clean and concise a summation of a profound and complicated truth as I have come across … —David Noonan, Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2008

Frye's wit was concise and dry, his erudition compendious. —Robert M. Adams, New York Times Book Review, 31 Mar. 1991

"I am glad, Mrs. Butler," was the neighbour's concise answer. —Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian, 1818

a clear and concise account of the accident

a concise article on violence in the media that manages to say more than most books on the subject

Recent Examples on the Web

Anika Dhar My opening note at final Tribal will be clear and concise. —Dalton Ross, EW.com, 13 Dec. 2024

Families can type or speak questions into a chat box, and Allison responds immediately with concise, reliable answers. —Carolyn Rosenblatt, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024

Pope’s work in Hard Truths is something else: every frame is clear, concise, controlled, yet the emotions contained within are a kind of cosmic energy picked up by the camera. —Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 6 Dec. 2024

Wenstrup outlined bipartisan areas of agreement, including the possibility that COVID could have emerged because of a laboratory accident, that the research nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance should not receive taxpayer dollars, and that scientific messaging should be clear and concise. —Victoria Knight, Axios, 3 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French concis, borrowed from Latin concīsus "(of a speech, expression) broken off, cut short, terse," from past participle of concīdere "to cut up, break up, slaughter, chop to pieces," from con- con- + caedere "to strike, beat, kill, fell (trees, etc.), cut off or through," of uncertain origin

Note: A laryngealist Indo-European reconstruction for caedere would be *kh₂ei̯d-, which has no certain correspondents. Armenian xaytʼem "to sting, bite" has been compared, as well as Old High German heia, glossing Latin aries "battering ram" (Middle High German hei, heie with the same sense, Middle Dutch heie "pile driver"), though the latter would assume that the *d/*d^h- is a root extension. Moreover, if heie is the outcome of Germanic *xai̯i̯ō(n), the doubled semivowel (Verschärfung) could be taken to assume a reconstruction *kh₂ei̯H- with an added laryngeal complicating the issue. (See R. Lühr, et al., Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen.)

First Known Use

circa 1590, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

concise

adjective

con·​cise kən-ˈsīs 

: brief and to the point

a concise summary

concisely adverb

conciseness noun