Words for cloze test 3: Laconic, Brief, Concise, Pithy

Laconic, Brief, Concise, Pithy.
All of these words have one common meaning, i.e, no useless words, but they suggest more than that.







Laconic is an adjective. 
It means using a few words to say or write. It describes something written or spoken brief and to the point.
  1. He gives a laconic statement.
  2. His articles are laconic and powerful.

Brief is a noun, a verb, and an adjective. 
As a noun it means a short written summary, it may be a legal notes.
  1. You should provide the notes in brief.
As a verb, it means give essential information to someone.
  1. The Prime Minister has been briefed by her parliamentary aides.
As a Adjective, it means using few words, like a brief summary; it means lasting only a short time, like a brief meeting. In sense of cloths, it means short garments, like underpants, bikini.

Concise is an adjective. It means expressing much in few words. Concise writing has everything that is necessary without using any unnecessary words: giving a lot of information clearly in a few words.
  1. Your writing should be very clear and concise.
  2. Beschloss's writing is clean and concise, and he admirably draws upon new documents.
  3. Compassionate, concise and informative, the story is no doubt worthy of the first place.

Pithy is an adjective. 
"Before, B-E-F-O-R-E not "B4". We speak English not Bingo."
-A pithy comment.
A pithy statement, comment, advice or piece of writing is short, direct, and full of meaning,  expressing an idea cleverly in a few words.

What is the difference among Brief, Concise, Pithy, Laconic?
Brief is the opposite of long. It means simply short whether it is cloth, time, or writing. 

Concise suggests a deliberate action of making something short. Concise is taken from Latin word con + cidere; con is used for intensive and cidere means to cut; meaning to cut short-made shorter than it might naturally be.

Pithy, the root of this word is pith that means spongy tissue in plant stems or main substance of a plant concentrated in a small part. 
As its root word suggests, pithy does not necessarily mean short but full of necessary words. 

Laconic mainly suggests speaking less or writing less.
'Family reasons.' he said laconically.
Laconic comes from Greek Lakonikos, which is derived from Lakon, meaning "Laconian or inhabitant of Laconia. Laconians or Spartans being noted for their brevity of speech. It suggests not only the character of the speech--brief, to the point--but the manner of utterance.

In a nutshell
Brief is used in a wider sense- writing, garment, time. 
In sense of writing, it simply means short. If you write something in brief, you write it in a few words.

Laconic suggest straightforward and to the point it is whether writing or utterance, no more no less.  

When you edit your essay, you make your essay concise. You cut unnecessary words and sentences from the essay.

A cleverly presentation of a few well-chosen words is Pithy.

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