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terse
6 dictionary results for: Terse
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
terse 
[turs] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
[turs] Pronunciation Key –adjective ters·er, ters·est.
| 1. | neatly or effectively concise; brief and pithy, as language. |
| 2. | abruptly concise; curt; brusque. |
[Origin: 1595–1605; < L tersus, ptp. of tergére to rub off, wipe off, clean, polish]
] —Related forms
tersely, adverb
terseness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| terse
(tûrs) Pronunciation Key
adj. ters·er, ters·est Brief and to the point; effectively concise: a terse one-word answer. [Latin tersus, past participle of tergēre, to cleanse.] terse'ly adv., terse'ness n. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
terse
terse
1599 (implied in tersely), "clean-cut, burnished, neat," from Fr. ters "clean," from L. tersus "wiped off, clean, neat," from pp. of tergere "to rub, polish, wipe." Sense of "concise or pithy in style or language" is from 1777, which led to a general sense of "neatly concise." The pejorative meaning "brusque" is a fairly recent development.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| terse | |
adjective | |
| brief and to the point; effectively cut short; "a crisp retort"; "a response so curt as to be almost rude"; "the laconic reply; 'yes'"; "short and terse and easy to understand" [syn: crisp] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This
Terse
Language for decryption of hardware logic.
["Hardware Logic Simulation by Compilation", C. Hansen, 25th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conf, 1988].
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Terse
Terse\, a. [Compar. Terser; superl. Tersest.] [L. tersus, p. p. of tergere to rub or wipe off.]1. Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished. [Obs.] Many stones, . . . although terse and smooth, have not this power attractive. --Sir T. Browne. 2. Refined; accomplished; -- said of persons. [R. & Obs.] "Your polite and terse gallants." --Massinger. 3. Elegantly concise; free of superfluous words; polished to smoothness; as, terse language; a terse style. Terse, luminous, and dignified eloquence. --Macaulay. A poet, too, was there, whose verse Was tender, musical, and terse. --Longfellow. Syn: Neat; concise; compact. Usage: Terse, Concise. Terse was defined by Johnson "cleanly written", i. e., free from blemishes, neat or smooth. Its present sense is "free from excrescences," and hence, compact, with smoothness, grace, or elegance, as in the following lones of Whitehead: "In eight terse lines has Ph[ae]drus told (So frugal were the bards of old) A tale of goats; and closed with grace, Plan, moral, all, in that short space." It differs from concise in not implying, perhaps, quite as much condensation, but chiefly in the additional idea of "grace or elegance." -- Terse"ly, adv. -- Terse"ness, n.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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