concise

concise — adjective

1. A concise piece of writing, speech, or text is short but covers everything impor

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

A concise piece of writing, speech, or text is short but covers everything important, using no extra words.

Example

Min wrote a concise summary of the meeting for her team.

collocation: concise summary

The report was concise enough to read during a short train ride.

Common collocations
  • concise summary
  • concise explanation
  • concise answer
  • concise description
  • concise statement
  • clear and concise
Synonyms
  • brief

    focuses on short length without implying the completeness that concise does; a brief answer may skip details

  • succinct

    more formal than concise, often suggesting an elegant tightness of expression

  • terse

    can carry a negative tone of being too short to the point of rudeness or abruptness

  • pithy

    short and memorable, often with a clever or witty quality that concise does not imply

Antonyms
  • verbose

    using far more words than needed; the opposite of concise efficiency

  • wordy

    containing unnecessary words, lacking the tightness of concise writing

  • long-winded

    informal term for speech or writing that goes on too long

Usage Note

Most common with writing, speech, or instructions. Unlike short, which refers only to length, concise implies nothing unnecessary is included — a long document can still be concise if every word serves a purpose.

Common Mistakes

She is a very concise person.
She gave a very concise answer.
'concise' describes the way someone communicates, not their personality directly.
He wrote a short summary but left out important details.' (calling it concise)
He wrote a short summary that covered all the main points
a truly concise one.' — 'concise' means short AND complete, not just brief.

Word family

  • concisely
    adverbB2
  • conciseness
    nounC1
  • concision
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All five words describe short expression, but they differ in tone and completeness. Concise is the most neutral and positive — it means every word earns its place (a concise manual gives you exactly what you need). Brief only comments on length (a brief hello does not imply completeness). Succinct is a more formal cousin of concise, often used for elegant legal or academic writing. Terse carries a risk: it can suggest the writer was too short, even rude (a terse reply might be 'Fine.' with nothing else). Pithy adds a layer of clever memorability — a pithy quote stays with you. For everyday writing, concise is the safest choice: it praises the writer without sounding too academic (succinct) or too cold (terse).

concise ↗brief ↗succincttersepithy

Common collocations

Nouns

  • concise summary
  • concise explanation
  • concise answer
  • concise description
  • concise statement
  • concise guide

Adverbs

  • extremely concise
  • very concise
  • remarkably concise
  • fairly concise

Phrases

  • short and concise
  • clear and concise
  • concise and to the point

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Concise comes from Latin concīsus, meaning 'cut short' or 'cut up.' This was the past participle of concīdere ('to cut to pieces'), formed from com- (an intensifier) and caedere ('to cut'). The sense shifted from physically cutting something short to 'brief in expression' by the 17th century.