How to Use terse in a Sentence

terse

adjective
  • She gave me a few terse instructions and promptly left the room.
  • His wife and children found a terse note that said only not to look for him.
    — Amy Wang | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 17 July 2023
  • His wayward path was presented in terse blasts of punk-blues.
    — Greg Kot, chicagotribune.com, 2 June 2017
  • Their voice is monotone, or their online chatting is dry and terse.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2023
  • In the end, her terse last word on the show was in keeping with her public persona.
    — Michelle Tauber, Peoplemag, 25 Sep. 2024
  • The atmosphere, then, could be terse as two of the league’s best pitchers square off.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
  • The closing exchange was a terse end to what had been a cordial debate.
    — James Powel, USA TODAY, 2 Oct. 2024
  • His exchanges with Rob are terse to the point of being hostile.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 15 July 2021
  • When asked what makes Lyles so difficult to race against, Knighton was terse.
    — Sean Gregory / Paris, TIME, 30 July 2024
  • After some terse catching-up pleasantries, Mike gets to the point.
    — Noel Murray, Vulture, 23 June 2024
  • When he was asked in the locker room after the game what went wrong, his response was pretty terse.
    — Zach Harper, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
  • The menus are terse, but thoughtful, with something for everyone.
    — Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 30 Nov. 2025
  • In a terse meeting that lasted just minutes — no questions, please — they were told to pack up and go home.
    — Michael Crowley, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Jones saw what Tannenbaum said and offered a terse two-word response.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 19 Feb. 2026
  • While not a restaurant, Alma does offer a terse menu of tapas and snacks to enjoy with your wine.
    — Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 3 July 2026
  • These days, his main output is terse posts about his music projects on the upstart platform Bluesky.
    — Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 9 July 2025
  • But as her life unfolded there in the tent, one terse answer at a time, the man in white never seemed surprised.
    — Hazlitt, 24 Jan. 2024
  • Another got a terse letter for not spraying the mold off the side of his house frequently enough.
    — Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post, 7 Aug. 2017
  • When asked Monday night about what happened with the video, Toney was at times terse with reporters.
    — Jesse Newell, Kansas City Star, 6 Feb. 2024
  • The dialogue is terse, the pace relentless.
    — Literary Hub, 16 June 2025
  • Plant tags can contain anywhere from a few terse details to paragraphs on growth habit and benefits.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 5 May 2026
  • If the last interaction with someone was tense, even a neutral question can feel terse.
    — Dr. Diane Hamilton, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
  • His departure was announced in a terse statement by the White House.
    — Cathleen Decker, latimes.com, 29 Sep. 2017
  • On the trail, DeSantis can be brief with voters and terse with reporters.
    — Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, Michael Scherer and Marianne Levine, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 16 July 2023
  • The counts provided terse descriptions of what Nolan was alleged to have done.
    — Scott Wartman, Cincinnati.com, 9 Feb. 2018
  • The terse staff will slice a rectangular piece of pizza for you from a long slab, wrap it in paper, and send you on your way.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Mar. 2026
  • As Strong spoke with state reporters this week on campus, her answers were even more clipped than usual, almost terse.
    — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 21 June 2026
  • The question brought a terse response from the German government.
    — Adam Shaw, Fox News, 30 Sep. 2023
  • The accusations often led to a terse back-and-forth and outbursts from the audience.
    — Amanda Seitz, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2025
  • Their exchange is terse and extremely one-sided in favor of the self-righteous Bosch.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 20 Oct. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'terse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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