Dictionary De - En
De - Es
De - Pt| English Dictionary: tersest | by the DICT Development Group |
| 1 result for tersest | |
| From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
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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.] [bd]Your polite and terse gallants.[b8] --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 [bd]cleanly written[b8], i. e., free from blemishes, neat or smooth. Its present sense is [bd]free from excrescences,[b8] and hence, compact, with smoothness, grace, or elegance, as in the following lones of Whitehead: [bd]In eight terse lines has Ph[91]drus told (So frugal were the bards of old) A tale of goats; and closed with grace, Plan, moral, all, in that short space.[b8] It differs from concise in not implying, perhaps, quite as much condensation, but chiefly in the additional idea of [bd]grace or elegance.[b8] -- {Terse"ly}, adv. -- {Terse"ness}, n. | |
