Concise

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kənˈsaɪs/

Definitions

1. Brief and to the point, expressing information clearly using few words
2. Expressing much in few words with clarity and brevity
3. Characterized by compactness and economy of language without unnecessary detail

Etymology: Latin "concīdere" meant "cut to pieces," and the adjective "concīsus" carried that sense of something cut short. The image behind "concise" is literal: a thing reduced by cutting until only what matters remains. The root "caedere," "to cut, to strike down," is also the ancestor of words like "incision" and "homicide," which share the same violent core. English took the word from Latin, and its sense moved steadily from the physical to the stylistic. A concise statement came to mean one trimmed of excess words, a notion that fits the older Latin idea of material pared down to its essentials. The word kept its focus on compactness of expression rather than on size or quantity.

Synonyms: brief, succinct, to-the-point

Antonyms: verbose, long-winded