What's the difference between pithy and terse?

Pithy


Definition:

  • (superl.) Consisting wholly, or in part, of pith; abounding in pith; as, a pithy stem; a pithy fruit.
  • (superl.) Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) And while Altmejd presents sexual scenes of cartoonish horror and disgust, Lucas's art has embraced lavatorial humour, abjection, self-denigration, the pithy sculptural one-liner and the obscene gesture.
  • (2) This headline is a closely packed, multifaceted, pithy, rousing, basically perfect example of how strikes are presented in the tabloids, and have been for years.
  • (3) In fact, her pithy insults are deployed so regularly that colleagues on the spending watchdog have come up with the idea of playing “Margaret Hodge bingo”, scoring points when one of her putdowns pops out.
  • (4) The reshuffle had inspired some pithy one-liners and the PM was determined to deploy them all.
  • (5) Someone who bought tickets for a tennis event at the O2 sent me this pithy tweet: “4 tickets.
  • (6) There are plenty of 30-page documents and pithy slogans – but, as far as I can discover, nothing in between.
  • (7) It was a pithy line that feeds into the schtick about a bloated Brussels filled with born bureaucrats.
  • (8) The hawkish senator also defined his foreign policy: “A clenched fist and an open hand, you choose.” But the extent to which such pithy quips will help bolster Graham’s campaign – the senator is currently polling at 0.5% – remains questionable.
  • (9) But he has left Labour vulnerable over Brexit because the policy is so nuanced it cannot easily be boiled down to a pithy remark .
  • (10) Shortly after the YouTube sensation that was Jeremy Paxman's October interview with Russell Brand , Paxman wrote a pithy column about his disillusion with Westminster politics.
  • (11) Johnson, whose pithy interventions have caused embarrassment for all the major parties since the election campaign kicked off, opened the debate by stressing the gulf between the two major parties’ tax and spending plans.
  • (12) Sated by three years of Special One pyrotechnics, the British press might be ready to be charmed by Ramos' brand of quietly pithy humour.
  • (13) Obama: While the president generally struggled to get his "zingers" across, over-larding them with too much detail, he did get in a pithy dig about Romney's vague budget proposals which he claimed didn't add up.
  • (14) Jimmy Fallon, the host of the 2017 Golden Globes, has made a career of creating pithy viral moments that transcend television and resonate on the internet, but at this year’s ceremony the host was outdone by a bizarre recurring slip-up.
  • (15) In the months since their formation, the eight members of Pussy Riot have perfected their own form of protest: their songs are pithy, angry missives, largely directed at Putin, and they remain beguilingly anonymous – the band wear neon balaclavas to conceal their identities and perform flash gigs in unexpected places: on public transport, for example, and, once, on a prison roof.
  • (16) Instead, finance ministers signed up to a pithy list of bullet points, pledging to unleash all the policy weapons at their disposal against the crisis.
  • (17) The club was the brainchild of New Jersey shoe salesman Barney Josephson: a pithy antidote to the snooty, often racist elitism of other New York nightspots.
  • (18) But threnodies are not an argument, and memories are definitely not facts (Hobsbawm's pithy condemnation of oral history, delivered at a conference where I was due to speak, was terrifying).
  • (19) From a leader not known for her trenchant words or pithy sound bites her strong stance of the past few days has come as a surprise.
  • (20) You might expect he’d specialise in pithy one-liners, but in fact Delaney spins longer yarns onstage, all powered by a spirit of relentless cynicism.

Terse


Definition:

  • (superl.) Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished.
  • (superl.) Refined; accomplished; -- said of persons.
  • (superl.) Elegantly concise; free of superfluous words; polished to smoothness; as, terse language; a terse style.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The lossmaking chain of supermarkets, funeral homes and pharmacies said in a terse two-line statement that Stuart Ramsay had left the board with immediate effect after "an independent report, and at the request of the board".
  • (2) He replied tersely: “Di María is a fine player but we would still have won that game.” Martino called his winger “one of the five best players in the world” and said his country had missed him sorely in the final.
  • (3) A humiliated Trierweiler was publicly ditched by Hollande in a terse 18-word statement announcing that he was “putting an end” to their “shared life”.
  • (4) In a terse statement the New IRA said Kearney was shot after the group carried out "an investigation".
  • (5) "I think the figures are somewhat overstated in this country," he says tersely, "as it's generally the same three scientists making their voices heard.
  • (6) There is a significant gap between the plans of the Greek authorities and requirements of the commission, ECB and IMF European commission statement In a tersely worded statement, the European commission declared talks would resume when euro area finance ministers gather in Luxembourg on Thursday.
  • (7) Manchester United manager Ed Woodward is reported to have sent Chelsea a "terse" letter, warning them to cease and desist in their efforts to sign Wayne Rooney .
  • (8) Fielding questions from journalists after the game, Altidore opened with a terse stock defense, stating: "It doesn’t matter how I play as long as we win".
  • (9) A senior government official was more terse: "We don't want to see China patrolling the East and South China seas as though they think they own them."
  • (10) Terry, meanwhile, issued a terse statement in response.
  • (11) From the plague's ominous annunciation, the first dead rat, rotting on the turn of the stair in the protagonist's apartment block, to the end of the first act and the prefect's terse command, "close the town", plot fits meaning with tailored perfection.
  • (12) "They have cattle and now they have one of my boys," he wrote in a terse press release.
  • (13) In answers that ranged from terse monosyllables to rambling monologues, Cayne said he wished the Securities and Exchange Commission had looked into the way rumours about Bear were spread: "Regardless of whether there was a conspiracy or not, the bottom line is the firm came under attack."
  • (14) Head coach Doc Rivers has responded to the possibility with a very terse "it's stupid".
  • (15) Additionally, while the answers were terse, the immediacy and intimacy of the president's responses offered a glimpse into his mind that might never have been exposed so starkly in more formal circumstances.
  • (16) Dan Ashworth, David Gill and I have carried out a thorough process in the last three weeks and ultimately we could not look beyond Sam as the ideal candidate.” Allardyce performed a minor miracle to save Sunderland from relegation after succeeding Dick Advocaat last October but, in a terse statement which will interpreted as churlish, the Wearside club failed to reference his contribution, let alone thank him or offer their good wishes.
  • (17) Westminster slumbers in recess, voters are on holiday or reeling from the latesthorrors of Isis – and Nick Clegg tersely announces Lord Rennard has been reinstated as a party member , all disciplinary action miraculously evaporated.
  • (18) "There is no truth to these baseless allegations," Egypt's foreign ministry said in a terse statement on Sunday.
  • (19) This time the drone attack was successful , from the US perspective, and al-Shabaab issued a terse statement: "The martyr received what he wished for and what he went out for."
  • (20) As for that last line, millions of voices cried out with “duh” and went back to exhaling tersely through their noses.