Basic Details
Word: Concise
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Short and clear, giving the important information in few words.
Synonyms: brief, short, crisp, compact
Antonyms: lengthy, wordy, long-winded
Word origin: Comes from Latin concisus, 'cut up' or 'cut short', from caedere (to cut).
How to Spell Concise
Syllables: con - cise
Tricky part: The second c is soft, and the s that follows sounds like s too, so students mix them up. It is c then s: cise, as in precise.
Watch out for: consise, concice, concize
Memory tip: Concise and precise both end in cise, and both describe answers a teacher likes.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Keep your answer concise: two or three lines are enough.
Example 2: The tour guide gave us a concise history of the Red Fort.
Example 3: A good headline is concise and catchy.
Fun Fact
The Latin verb caedere, to cut, also gave English incision, a cut made by a surgeon, and decision, which first meant cutting off other choices.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to concise as used in the sentence:
The judges wanted a concise report, not one that went on for twenty pages.
a) brief
b) crisp
c) short
d) lengthy
Show answer
d) lengthy. A concise report is short, so the opposite is lengthy; the other three mean much the same as concise.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
con_i_e
a) s, c
b) s, s
c) c, s
d) c, c
Show answer
c) c, s. Copy the ending of precise: c first, then s.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
Our teacher asked for a sinceco summary of the chapter in under fifty words.
a) incise
b) concede
c) concise
d) cosine
Show answer
c) concise. Cosine and incise each have only one c, and concede needs a d.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which is the most concise way to say 'at this moment in time'?
a) at this very point in time
b) now
c) in this current moment
d) at the present moment of time
Show answer
b) now
2. A concise dictionary is one that ____.
a) gives short entries for each word
b) is written in code
c) lists only long words
d) has pictures only
Show answer
a) gives short entries for each word
