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succinct

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 29 March 2026

Etymology

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The adjective is derived from Late Middle English succinte, succynt (“having one’s waist encircled with something, girdled; brief, concise, succinct”),[1] 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).[2]

The adverb is derived from the adjective.[2]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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succinct (comparative more succinct or (less common) succincter, superlative most succinct or (less common) succinctest)

  1. (archaic)
    1. Encircled by, or as if by, a girdle; drawn up or wrapped tightly.
      Near-synonyms: bundled up, cinched, engirdled, girdled
      • 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:
        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.
      • 1726, Homer, “Book XVII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume IV, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 116, lines 199–200:
        Svvift to the hall they haſte; aſide they lay / Their garments, and ſuccinct, the victims [animals] ſlay.
      • 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:
        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.
      1. (by extension, entomology) Of some pupae: encircled by a thread of silk around the centre.
    2. (also poetic) Of clothes: not loose; close-fitting, tight-fitting.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:close-fitting
      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:loose-fitting
  2. (figurative)
    1. 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.
      • 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:
        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: […]
      • 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:
        Their poor bits of preciosities and heirlooms they have with them; made up in succinct bundles, stowed on ticketed baggage-wains: […]
      • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “A Bad Bargain”, in The Wrecker, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 404:
        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.
    2. Of an action, etc.: lasting a short time; brief, curt.
    3. Of speech or writing: brief and to the point; concise.
      Synonyms: laconic, terse; see also Thesaurus:concise
      You should give clear, succinct information to the clients.
      • 1603, Plutarch, “Of Intemperate Speech or Garrulitie”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 203:
        […] Apollo himſelfe loveth brevitie, and is in his oracles verie ſuccinct and pithy; […]
      • 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:
        A ſtrict and ſuccinct ſtyle is that, vvhere you can take avvay nothing vvithout loſſe, and that loſſe to be manifeſt.
      • 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:
        [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.
      • 1712 September 7 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “WEDNESDAY, 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:
        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.
        The spelling has been modernized.
      • 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:
        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.
      • 1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 224:
        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, […]
      • 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:
        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.
      • 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:
        But he made the truth very comfortable, and gave a succinct statement of the young man's brilliant beginnings.
      • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIX, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 247:
        Philip wired a succinct affirmative, and next morning a stranger presented himself at the studio.
      • 1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The Role of Research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 94:
        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!"
      • 1987, Paul Carter, “A Wandering State”, in The Road to Botany Bay: An Essay in Spatial History, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 336:
        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.
      • 2015, Raymond Fraser, chapter 4, in Seasons of Discontent […], Toronto, Ont.: Lion’s Head Press, →ISBN, page 138:
        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.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adverb

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succinct (comparative more succinct, superlative most succinct)

  1. (obsolete) Synonym of succinctly (“briefly, concisely”).
    • 1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 76, verso:
      Very largely haue I inueighed againſt this vice [gluttony] elſvvhere, vvherefore heere I vvill truſſe it vp more ſurcinct;[sic – meaning succinct] […]

References

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  1. ^ “succcincte, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “succinct, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025; “succinct, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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From Old French succinct, from Latin succīnctus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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succinct (feminine succincte, masculine plural succincts, feminine plural succinctes)

  1. succinct, concise; laconic
  2. (informal, figurative) light, scanty, frugal
    un repas succinct ― a light meal

Derived terms

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Further reading

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