What's the difference between terse and trite?

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.

Trite


Definition:

  • (a.) Worn out; common; used until so common as to have lost novelty and interest; hackneyed; stale; as, a trite remark; a trite subject.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Berg sat with Leija on Thursday evening, learning to sing Chris Medina's What Are Words, which includes lyrics that could be considered unbearably trite were they not now so fitting: "And I know an angel was sent just for me, And I know I'm meant to be where I am, And I'm gonna be, Standing right beside her tonight."
  • (2) "That might sound trite, but it does feel that way.
  • (3) Giles Oakley London • In conception and format, it was trite – while being undeservedly pompous and self-esteeming.
  • (4) It sounds trite now, but I was born in '58, so when I was seven or eight the city [of Liverpool] was awash with music.
  • (5) Inside that trite sentence, “We need to figure out how to make this work for everyone,” hides the skeleton of a monster.
  • (6) The three-day Baltimore retreat exposed discord within the ranks, but largely the same leadership espoused trite slogans that long predated Trump.
  • (7) Although it might seem trite to point out that tissue sampling is a potential source of experimental error, this survey disclosed that even experienced investigators in fact often work with cartilage that is contaminated by non-cartilaginous tissue of which they were unaware.
  • (8) I should, by rights, have produced a 300-word listicle containing trite, observational humour about self-service checkouts, but disappointingly, Buzzfeed got there first .
  • (9) A case in point is The Black Eyed Peas song Where Is The Love?, which when heard on the radio can seem a bit trite in its appeal for pan-global understanding, but in this context chimed perfectly with the need for clear, emphatic statements following trauma.
  • (10) The guest list pass from the 3rdeyegirl gig is still stuck fast to the inside of my jacket To say Prince was a rare figure, even in the glorified secure unit that is pop, is a little trite.
  • (11) Over the past few years of recession and regression, it has become a trite truism of European politics that you can't go wrong going to the right.
  • (12) These relations are in reality, not just as a trite phrase, a potential "win-win situation".
  • (13) I also wanted to slightly complicate rather than clarify the Nick situation because it’s so easy to come up with trite answers – that he came from a stuffy, upper-middle-class background, nobody understood him.
  • (14) To say it is a victory for hope may sound trite and cliched, but it is really the only explanation for what has occurred.
  • (15) In the case of Podemos, repeatedly attacking la casta (the elites) may seem simple or trite on paper, as some have argued, but expressing your disavowal in the context of Spain’s domination by a corrupt, unreformable “regime of 78” (the year of the post-Franco constitution) which is in thrall to the troika and their friends in the bailed-out banks, as well as 40 years of Francoist patriarchy before that, becomes potentially transcendent.
  • (16) "It is just not good enough to give a trite phrase saying we will learn lessons if you don't learn the lessons and if you don't make sure on a regular basis that the lessons have filtered down to your officers.
  • (17) He told the BBC: "I wasn't having a go at multiculturalism itself, I was having a go at the rather trite way, frankly, it was represented in the opening ceremony.
  • (18) For whose benefit are those early Sunday morning photos of piles of finished marking accompanied by a trite, self-congratulatory message?
  • (19) I have read it three times to satisfy myself that there is nothing trivial, trite or ridiculous about it.
  • (20) Inside that trite sentence, 'We need to figure out how to make this work for everyone,' hides the skeleton of a monster I disagree that the old way is better.