concise
kuhn-SYS
/kənˈsaɪs/
Giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words; brief but comprehensive.
Implies efficiency and clarity—cutting out unnecessary fluff and repetitive words without losing any essential meaning.
The story behind the word. The word 'concise' comes from the Latin 'concisus', which means 'cut short'. It is built from 'con-' (completely) and 'caedere' (to cut). It shares a root with 'scissors' and 'incision'. When you make your writing concise, you are literally cutting away the fat.
Word relationships
- succinct: Succinct implies that something is tightly wrapped or compressed, while concise emphasizes clarity and efficiency of words.
- brief: Brief simply means short, whereas concise specifically means short and comprehensive.
- verbose: Verbose means using far more words than are necessary, making the writing tedious.
- wordy: Wordy is an informal synonym for verbose, describing text cluttered with unnecessary words.
Commonly confused with
- precise: Precise means exact and accurate, while concise means brief and to the point.
Word family
- conciseness (noun): The quality of being brief and clear.
- concisely (adverb): In a brief and clear manner.
Collocations
- concise summary
- clear and concise
- concise guide
- concise explanation
Example sentences
- "Keep your emails concise; busy executives do not have time to read long, rambling messages." A business guide on writing effective emails.
- "She gave a concise summary of the three-hundred-page report in just two minutes." Praising a well-written summary.
Memory hook
Think of 'con-scissors'—using scissors to cut out all the extra, useless words from your essay. Cut away the extra words.
When not to use
Do not use if a text is short but lacks important details (use 'incomplete' or 'sketchy' instead).
Fun facts
- The famous quote 'Brevity is the soul of wit' from Shakespeare's Hamlet is the ultimate defense of being concise.
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