succinct en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /səkˈsɪŋ(k)t/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (General-American) audio
- /sə(k)ˈsɪŋ(k)t/ (General-American)
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English succinte, succynt (“having one’s waist encircled with something, girdled; brief, concise, succinct”), borrowed from Old French succinct (modern French succinct), or directly from its etymon Latin succīnctus (“belted, girdled; enclosed or tightly wrapped; (figurative) concise, succinct; etc.”), the perfect passive participle of succingō (“to gather or tuck up with a belt, etc.”), from suc- (a variant of sub- (prefix meaning ‘under’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upó (“from below; up”)) + cingō (“to encircle, surround; to gird”) (further etymology uncertain). The adverb is derived from the adjective.
Meanings
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(archaic) Encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly.
Placid her pose, the calm of energy; / And over her broad brow in many a round / (That loosened would have gilt her garment's hem), / Succinct, as toil prescribes, the hair was wound / In lustrous coils, a natural diadem.
1876 December, James Russell Lowell, “An Ode for the Fourth of July, 1876”, in Three Memorial Poems, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1877, →OCLC, canto I, page 72:Near-synonyms: bundled up, cinched, engirdled, girdled
Svvift to the hall they haſte; aſide they lay / Their garments, and ſuccinct, the victims [animals] ſlay.
1726, Homer, “Book XVII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume IV, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 116, lines 199–200:The Tovvne is moſt beautified, by a vaſt Garden of the Kings, ſuccinct vvith a great tovvred mud-vvall, larger than the Circuit of the Citie.
1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “Tyroan”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 115:
- (archaic, broadly) Encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly. ▸ Of some pupae: encircled by a thread of silk around the centre.
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(also, archaic, poetic) Of clothes: not loose; close-fitting, tight-fitting.
Four Knaves in garbs ſuccinct, a truſty band, / Caps on their heads, and halberds in their hand; […]
1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto III, page 140:During this time, sister Ursula, to give her for the last time her conventual name, exchanged her stole, or loose upper garment, for the more succinct cloak and hood of a horseman.
1831 June–November (date written), Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter V, in Tales of My Landlord, Fourth and Last Series. […], volume IV (Castle Dangerous), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Robert Cadell; London: Whittaker and Co., published 1 December 1831 (indicated as 1832), →OCLC, pages 159–160:[W]ings he vvore / Of many a colourd plume ſprinkl'd vvith Gold, / His habit fit for ſpeed ſuccinct, and held / Before his decent ſteps a Silver vvand.
1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature L, recto, lines 651–654:[S]he could not but contrast the splendour of the Polish retinues and their plumages and draperies, with the strait-buttoned Prussian dignitaries, all in mere soldier uniform, succinct 'blue coat, white linen gaiters,' and no superfluity even in the epaulettes and red facings.
1858, Thomas Carlyle, “Visit to Dresden”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book VI, page 38:
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(figuratively) Compressed into a small area; compact.
Unlike general lossless data compression algorithms, succinct data structures retain the ability to use them in-place, without decompressing them first.
To stay a square-rigged ship is an affair of knowledge and swift sight: and a man used to the succinct evolutions of a schooner will always tend to be too hasty with a brig.
1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “A Bad Bargain”, in The Wrecker, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 404:Their poor bits of preciosities and heirlooms they have with them; made up in succinct bundles, stowed on ticketed baggage-wains: […]
1858, Thomas Carlyle, “The Salzburgers”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book IX, page 417:The admirable and inimitable feature of Man, ſupplied and adorned vvith the innumerable teſtimonies of a Deitie: inſomuch, that not vvithout great cauſe hee is ſtiled a little and ſuccinct vvorld vvithin himſelfe; in vvhom there is a perſpicuous knovvledge to diſtinguiſh good from euill, vvhich is the rule by vvhich to direct all the neceſſarie actions of humane life: […]
1635, Tho[mas] Heywood, “The Second Tractate: The Cherubim. Theologicall, Philosophicall, Poeticall, Historicall, Apothegmaticall, Hierogriphicall and Emblematicall Obseruations, Touching the Further Illustration of the Former Tractate.”, in The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells. […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, pages 82–83:
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(figuratively) Of an action, etc.: lasting a short time; brief, curt.
Then ſuddenly, and vvith a ſuccinct bovv, bidding them all good bye, he took a haſty leave; […]
1796, [Frances Burney], “How to Treat a Defamer”, in Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth. […], volume IV, London: […] T[homas] Payne, […]; and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 331:From a little behind, with his Sunday hat tilted forward over his brow and a cigar glowing between his lips, Captain Nares acknowledged our previous acquaintance with a succinct nod.
1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “In which Jim and I Take Different Ways”, in The Wrecker, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 175:With the rope round their neck, their destiny may be succinct!
1837, Thomas Carlyle, “In the Salle de Manége”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book I (The Feast of Pikes), page 9:
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(figuratively) Of speech or writing: brief and to the point; concise.
[…] Apollo himſelfe loveth brevitie, and is in his oracles verie ſuccinct and pithy; […]
1603, Plutarch, “Of Intemperate Speech or Garrulitie”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 203:A tale ſhould be judicious, clear, ſuccinct, / The language plain, and incidents vvell-link'd, / Tell not as nevv vvhat ev'ry body knovvs, / And nevv or old, ſtill haſten to a cloſe, […]
1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 224:Arthur Duck, another Englishman, has been praised even by foreigners, for a succinct and learned, though elementary and popular, treatise on the use and authority of the civil law in different countries of Europe.
1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “History of Moral and Political Philosophy, and of Jurisprudence from 1600 to 1650”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume III, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 80, page 384:Here, in the succinctest terms, was expressed the true motive behind the establishment of villages. Herding the natives into centres, the government further centralized its own power.
1987, Paul Carter, “A Wandering State”, in The Road to Botany Bay: An Essay in Spatial History, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 336:But he made the truth very comfortable, and gave a succinct statement of the young man's brilliant beginnings.
1875 January–December, Henry James, Jr., “Experience”, in Roderick Hudson, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1876, →OCLC, page 118:He specifically told the class he wants succinct answers on exams (as opposed to bullshit), and answers don't get any succincter than the ones I gave.
2015, Raymond Fraser, chapter 4, in Seasons of Discontent […], Toronto, Ont.: Lion’s Head Press, →ISBN, page 138:A ſtrict and ſuccinct ſtyle is that, vvhere you can take avvay nothing vvithout loſſe, and that loſſe to be manifeſt.
a. 1638 (date written), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Timber: Or, Discoveries; Made vpon Men and Matter: […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1641, →OCLC, page 119:But I must grow more succinct, and, as a Spectator, give an account of this extraordinary man, who, in his way, never had an equal in any age before him or in that wherein he lived.
1712 September 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “TUESDAY, August 27, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 468; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 311:You should give clear, succinct information to the clients.
The Derby Carriage Works foreman, when informed that this coach was to be run at 90 m.p.h. to obtain information on bogie hunting, is reported to have offered one succinct word of advice—"Don't!"
1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The Role of Research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 94:In the beginning of the ſixteenth century, John Major and Hector Boethius publiſhed their hiſtories of Scotland, the former a ſuccinct and dry vvriter, the latter a copious and florid one, and both equally credulous.
1759, William Robertson, “Book I”, in The History of Scotland, during the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James VI, till His Accession to the Crown of England. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, page 4:[T]he Saxon Annaliſt vvont to be ſober and ſuccinct, […] runs on a ſudden into ſuch extravagant fanſies and metaphors, as bare him quite beſide the ſcope of being underſtood.
1670, John Milton, “The Fifth Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 225:Philip wired a succinct affirmative, and next morning a stranger presented himself at the studio.
1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIX, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 247:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most succinct | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more succinct | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| succincter | Degree=Cmp | uncommon | lexicographic |
| succinctest | Degree=Sup | uncommon | lexicographic |
Antonyms
baggy · loose-fitting · slack · relaxed · loose · full · saggy · pouchy
Deriveds
succinctness · unsuccinct · succinctly
Relateds
succinctory · succinctorium · succincture
Synonyms
laconic · cinched · tight · skinny · brief · succinct · terse · engirdled · laconic · snug · bundled up · crisp · clingsome · to the point · terse · body-hugging · form-fitting · tight · figure-hugging · bundled up · succinct · close-fitting · as tight as Dick's hatband · tight-fitting · clingy · concise · skintight · girdled · girdled · short-winded · engirdled · lapidary · slinky · taut · slim-fit · bodycon · cinched
Translations (60)
bo ཚིག་ཉུང་དོན་བསྡུས་པ (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · tr mücmel (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · mk содр́жаен (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · ru лаконичный (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · cmn 簡明的 /简明的 (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · de kurz (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · de knapp (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · hy սեղմ (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · cs zhuštěný (compressed into a small area — see also compact) · fa مختصر و مفید (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · el λακωνικός (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · mk зби́ен (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · sv koncis (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · hu tömör (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · pt sucinto (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · da fyndig (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · bg кратък (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · fi tiivis (compressed into a small area — see also compact) · ota وجیز (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · bg сбит (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · nl bondig (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · ru кра́ткий (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · fi vyö- (vyökotelo) (of some pupae: encircled by a thread of silk around the centre) · pl treściwy (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · ca succint (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · kk қысқаша (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · bg компактен (compressed into a small area — see also compact) · no konsis (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · fa موجز (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · tr özlü (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · fr succinct (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · tr yoğun (compressed into a small area — see also compact) · la succīnctus (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · cs stručný (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · cmn 簡潔的 /简洁的 (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · fi sidottu (encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly) · de prägnant (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · mk кра́ток (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · bo ཚིག་ཉུང་དོན་ཚང (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · tr sıkı (compressed into a small area — see also compact) · el συνοπτικός (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · de lapidar (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · mk ла́конски (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · da koncis (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · tr veciz (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · ru ёмкий (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · la succīnctus (encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly) · tr muhtasar (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · fi ytimekäs (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · pl zwięzły (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · de kompakt (compressed into a small area — see also compact) · nl compact (compressed into a small area — see also compact) · ja 簡潔な (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · mk ко́нцизен (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · bo བསྡུས་པ (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · de bündig (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · hu velős (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · es sucinto (of speech or writing: brief and to the point — see also concise) · fi vyötetty (encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly) · ru сжа́тый (compressed into a small area — see also compact)