A word between "brevity" and "terse"

[Sir Francis]

I'm trying to find a word that has a meaning slightly more aggressive
than "brevity" but not as negative sounding as "terse." The context
is that I'm trying to describe writing as being written with more than
brevity (short, to the point, almost point-form-like) but not quite as
negative as the word "terse" tends to connote. Thanks!

[Joel Olson]

"Sir Francis" <sirfranc...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d5aeaf12-8af1-43f6...@b6g2000vbz.googlegroups.com...

I've sometimes used tersity, but that may not be in the dictionary yet.

How about compactly? tightly?

[occam]

"snappy"

[musika]

Laconic.

--
Ray
UK

[CDB]

"Concise" puts a bit more emphasis on "to the point" than your
description did, but its associations are positive and it's in about
the same register as the words you mentioned. The noun is
"concision".

[Bill McCray]

That's tricky since "brevity" is a noun and "terse" is an adjective.
Maybe you were looking for "brief", but wrote "brevity" instead.
Anyway, "concise" may be what you're looking for. It has a more
positive connotation to me than "terse" does.

Bill in Kentucky

[Leslie Danks]

IMBW, but I suspect that more people would use "conciseness" than would use
"concision".

--
Les
(BrE)

[Don Phillipson]

"Sir Francis" <sirfranc...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d5aeaf12-8af1-43f6...@b6g2000vbz.googlegroups.com...

> I'm trying to find a word that has a meaning slightly more aggressive

Your thesaurus will help, partly because it groups separately
nouns (like brevity) and adjectives (like terse.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[CDB]

YAPR, though. I had it in my original posting, along with a bit more
about register, but decided on rereading not to complicate matters.
So, L F-P: Leslie is probably right, that "conciseness" would be a
better choice, if you decide to use that word in noun form. I like
"concision" -- somehow it seems more concise, even if a bit
highflown -- but that's just me.

[Archie Valparaiso]

Punchy/punchiness?

[Farmer Giles]

"Sir Francis" <sirfranc...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d5aeaf12-8af1-43f6...@b6g2000vbz.googlegroups.com...

I like to use the term 'pungent' for what you are trying to achieve.

[Leslie Danks]

Are you sure you haven't been spending too much time in the cowshed?

What about "succinct" or "succinctness"?

--
Les
(BrE)

[Daniel James]

In article <d5aeaf12-8af1-43f6-bafc-

f412b9...@b6g2000vbz.googlegroups.com>, Sir Francis wrote:
> I'm trying to find a word that has a meaning slightly more aggressive
> than "brevity" but not as negative sounding as "terse."

One question in my mind is that of whether you want to say that a
passage is admirably short, or whether you want to say that it is too
short. Different words carry different nuances.

The other is that of whether you are seeking a noun (as in your example
of "brevity") or an adjective (as in "terse").

If you're on the "admirably brief" track then "concise" is as good a
word as any to consider as adjective, or "consision" as noun (or
"conciseness", as has been noted, if you prefer ... but "concision" is,
well, more concise).

If your meaning is, rather, that of "too short" then you might consider
"spare" in the sense of "(The exercise of) economy or frugality". I
note that the SOED marks that usage as 'Archaic', but I think it's
still well enough known to stand. If you wanted a noun then "spareness"
would your man.

Cheers,
Daniel.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

"Succinct" is good, as is "concise", mentioned by others. I also
wondered about "short". As it happens I read the original question
while at a meeting in Bielefeld (a city that is widely claimed not to
exist), and immediately after the beginning of a talk that the speaker
began (jocularly, and quoting an Austrian who had not been speaking
jocularly) by saying "I shall be short, but pregnant". He was indeed
short (in both senses), but is unlikely to have been pregnant -- wrong
sex, wrong age.

Of course, if the questioner wanted a noun, then "shortness" won't do.


--
athel

[Leslie Danks]

Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

Looking up "prägnant" in LEO throws up "pithy" as one possible translation.
That might be suitable in some circumstances.

> Of course, if the questioner wanted a noun, then "shortness" won't do.
>
>

--
Les
(BrE)

[2012a...@gmail.com]

Candor comes to mind.

[Anton Shepelev]

2012alondon:

>Subj: A word between "brevity" and "terse"
>Candor comes to mind.

I wonder why.

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[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

On 6/3/2018 16:14, Anton Shepelev wrote:
> 2012alondon:
>
>> Subj: A word between "brevity" and "terse"
>> Candor comes to mind.
>
> I wonder why.
>

I have never needed them in posting my English replies so far.... :)

Anyway, back to the topic. Could someone tell me the context that
requires those two words?

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[occam]

On 06/03/2018 09:05, 2012a...@gmail.com wrote:
> Candor comes to mind.
>

Brevity is a noun. Terse is an adjective. You cannot have anything in
between. (That was a curt reply.)

[Hen Hanna]

Mr CDB! (my "mentor")

( terse isn't so negative. )

succinct, crisp, pithy <-- these are good.




brief · short · to the point · concise · incisive · trenchant · short and sweet · laconic · elliptical · brusque · abrupt · curt · clipped · blunt · pointed · ungracious · gruff


conciseness · concision · succinctness · economy of language · pithiness · incisiveness · shortness · compactness



> Sir Francis wrote:

is he a real Sir ? HH

[Madrigal Gurneyhalt]

Nonsense. There are thousands of words between 'brevity' and
'terse'. That was a dictionarial reply.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Not only curt, but brief, terse and, I suppose, candid.

--
athel

[Don P]

On 06/03/2018 3:05 AM, 2012a...@gmail.com wrote:

> Candor comes to mind.

But candor is a noun (like brevity) but terse is an adjective. They mean
different things but this has no bearing on whether or not we can cite
any word "between" them.