kənˈsīs adjective
( sometimes -er/-est )
Etymology: Latin concisus, past participle of concidere to cut up, from com- + -cidere (from caedere to cut, hew, strike, kill); akin to Middle High German heie mallet, club, Armenian xait' to prick
1. : marked by brevity in expression or by compact statement without elaboration or superfluous detail
2. : accomplished in little time : brief and curtailed : cut short
the effect is a concise panorama of the city's character — American Guide Series: Texas
Synonyms:
terse , succinct , laconic , summary , pithy , compendious : concise indicates the cutting out of all superfluities and avoidance of elaboration
Carruthers took a telegram from his pocket … It was short and concise: “The old man is dead” — A. Conan Doyle
he [Gladstone] asked whether he should be … concise, and Peel told him to be long and diffuse — Times Literary Supplement
terse may imply finish and pointedness in addition to brevity
as a lecturer his command of terse English enabled him to give a maximum of instruction with a minimum of words — J.M.Phalen
terse headlines are another part of the Tribune's campaign to save newsprint — New Yorker
succinct implies extreme compactness and compression
a book must have a title and today it must have a succinct title; therefore this book appears as Richelieu — Hilaire Belloc
laconic indicates shortness to the point of seeming brusque, unconcerned, or mysterious
again he paused longer, and raised his eyebrows still more. “It is sold, sir,” was again his laconic reply — Bram Stoker
the laconic announcement was made … that the sentences of death had been carried out — Manchester Guardian Weekly
summary suggests the treatment of main points with no elaboration or additional explanation; it may apply to treatments and actions done with much promptness or even brusqueness
a presentation as summary as is compatible with an adequate statement of the available information — Internat'l Labor Office Recent Publications
a summary redress … was … provided by the crown in a royal proclamation — J.R.Green
she seemed surprised, and offended … and waved us out of the house. Summary as the dismissal was, court etiquet no doubt required our compliance — Herman Melville
pithy suggests a wealth of forcible or telling material briefly presented
a brief, pithy, and, as it then appeared to him, unanswerable argument against the immortality of the human soul — Nathaniel Hawthorne
compendious applies to treatments at once full and comprehensive and brief and concise
it would reduce all the feet and combinations of feet to compendious and intelligible formulas — R.W.Chapman