succinct implies the greatest possible compression.
a succinct letter of resignation
laconic implies brevity to the point of seeming rude, indifferent, or mysterious.
an aloof and laconic stranger
summary suggests the statement of main points with no elaboration or explanation.
a summary listing of the year's main events
pithy adds to succinct or terse the implication of richness of meaning or substance.
a comedy sharpened by pithy one-liners
compendious applies to what is at once full in scope and brief and concise in treatment.
a compendious dictionary
Examples of pithy in a Sentence
… Gore's prowess had been blurred by his performance in the Quayle debate and by his four preceding years in the Senate, where the prevailing style is indirect and woolly-swathed in layers of "my distinguished colleague" and short on zingers and pithy remarks.—James Fallows, Atlantic, July 2000I read my poems in L.A., chatted up the literary set, waxed pithy and beleaguered at the book signings and wine and cheese receptions.—Thomas Lynch, The Undertaking, 1997He does not hold forth to his family or to his court of old men; he listens, … then delivers short, pithy edicts that are then followed.—Guy Martin, Esquire, June 1997Unlike a great many other science books, the pithy, lyrical text never bogs down in a mudflat of facts.—Leonard S. Marcus, Parenting, December/January 1996
The critic gave the film a pithy review.
The book is filled with pithy sayings about love and loss.
a pithy little Mother's Day card
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
The scams are so common that law-enforcement authorities have taken to calling them by a pithy name: Pig butchering, a rough translation of an expression widely used in China, where these scams have proliferated in recent years.—David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025 What might’ve seemed pithy or condescending in another movie becomes downright gorgeous, as each interviewee is bathed in monochromatic light, and shines like a precious jewel.—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Feb. 2025 While Moreno often slides neatly into the slithering slime of his character’s underbelly, his tart turn as the pithy mayor is loaded with side-eyed sketch.—David John Chávez, The Mercury News, 13 Feb. 2025 These writers are expected to read the manuscript and craft a pithy review that publishers will use in promotional material, plastering it on the book’s dust jacket and front and back covers.—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Feb. 2025 See all Example Sentences for pithy
Share