Home › Glossary › Letter T

terseness

Concept
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A stylistic quality marked by extreme brevity and sharpness of expression, achieving maximum impact through minimal words, often via ellipsis or abrupt phrasing.

Detailed Definition
Terseness in poetry denotes extreme concision—using minimal words to maximum effect—often achieved through omission, strong verbs, and unadorned diction; valued in Imagist and haiku traditions, terseness eliminates redundancy to focus on essential imagery or emotion, as in Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro,” where two lines capture a fleeting moment with crystalline precision and emotional resonance.
Example
Example in poetry:
Terseness uses extreme concision: “No ideas but in things.” (Williams); “In a Station of the Metro” (Pound)—14 words; “Haiku: five / seven / five.”; “Stop. / Go. / Gone.”—minimalist narrative.
Additional Notes
terseness|The quality of being brief and concise in language, achieved by using few words to convey a maximum of meaning; a key characteristic of epigrams, haikus, and telegraphic poetry.
Also Known As
Conciseness Brevity Compression Brevity (concision) Concision
Skip to main content