incisive

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English

Etymology

Late Middle English (in the sense “cutting, penetrating”), borrowed from Medieval Latin incīsīvus, from incīdō (“to cut in, cut through”) +‎ -īvus (“-ive”, adjectival suffix). Compare Middle French incisif.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnˈsaɪ.sɪv/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪsɪv

Adjective

incisive (comparative more incisive, superlative most incisive)

  1. Intelligently analytical and concise. (of a person or mental process)
    1. Accurate and sharply focused. (of an account)
  2. Quickly proceeding to judgment and forceful in expression. (of an action)
    An incisive producer, who expressed vehement disapproval with my pitch upon my first sentence.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:
      She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.
    Synonyms: decisive, forthright
  3. Having the quality of incising, cutting, or penetrating, as with a sharp instrument.
    Synonyms: sharp, acute, sarcastic, biting
  4. (anatomy, relational) Of or relating to the incisors.
    the incisive bones, the premaxillaries

Derived terms

Translations

References

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

incisive

  1. feminine singular of incisif

Noun

incisive f (plural incisives)

  1. incisor (tooth)

Further reading

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /in.t͡ʃiˈzi.ve/
  • Rhymes: -ive
  • Hyphenation: in‧ci‧sì‧ve

Adjective

incisive

  1. feminine plural of incisivo

Anagrams

Latin

Pronunciation

Adjective

incīsīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of incīsīvus
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