succinct means encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly. It carries an Arena rating of 1662, earned across 60 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, succinct ranks #93 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #287 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #359 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #746 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
succinct is pronounced /səkˈsɪŋ(k)t/.
Why “succinct” is a great word
Expressed clearly and in few words; concise and clear. From the Latin succinctus ("girded up, contracted, short"), the past participle of succingere ("to tuck up, gird from below"), from sub- ("under") + cingere ("to gird, surround"). Unlike "concise," which emphasizes completeness after judicious pruning, or "laconic," which risks seeming brusque or withholding, succinct is language pulled taut and secured—no excess fabric, yet no exposure. It is the telegram that arrives with its meaning intact, the single sentence that replaces a paragraph, the clean finality of a door closing—the kind of brevity that doesn’t omit meaning but distills it, leaving only what burns.
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.
adj
- Encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly.e.g.“Near-synonyms: bundled up, cinched, engirdled, girdled”
- 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.
- Of clothes: not loose; close-fitting, tight-fitting.
- Compressed into a small area; compact.e.g.“Unlike general lossless data compression algorithms, succinct data structures retain the ability to use them in-place, without decompressing them first.”
- Of an action, etc.: lasting a short time; brief, curt.
- Of speech or writing: brief and to the point; concise.e.g.“You should give clear, succinct information to the clients.”
adv
- Synonym of succinctly (“briefly, concisely”).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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