Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

Fine Dictionary

pithy

ˈpɪθi
WordNet
  1. (adj) pithy
    concise and full of meaning "welcomed her pithy comments","the peculiarly sardonic and sententious style in which Don Luis composed his epigrams"- Hervey Allen"
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Pithy
    Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent. "This pithy speech prevailed, and all agreed.", "In all these Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy ."
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. pithy
    Of the nature of or full of pith; containing or abounding with pith: as, a pithy stem; a pithy substance.
  2. pithy
    Full of pith or force; forcible; containing much in a concentrated or dense form; of style, sententious: as, a pithy saying or expression.
  3. pithy
    Given to the use of pithy or forcible expressions.
  4. pithy
    Synonyms and Terse, laconic, concise, pointed, sententious.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (adj) Pithy
    full of pith: forcible: strong: energetic
Quotations
Denis Diderot
Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
Denis Diderot
Etymology

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary A.S. pitha; Dut. pit, marrow.

Usage in the news

Guest review by Mike K. The pithy one-sentence review. blog.mysanantonio.com

Using Rap to Teach Pithy Lessons in Business. nytimes.com

When I first sat down to write this blurb, I fully intended it to be a pithy diatribe against Jim DeMint. charlestoncitypaper.com

Pithy verses deal with doomsday. rollingstone.com

President Obama, most famous for his soaring speeches, apparently has a knack for the pithy tweet, too. latimes.com

Judging from the current astrological omens, Scorpio, I'm thinking it would be a good time for you to do some almost equally pithy things. sacurrent.com

Of the Buena Vista Cafe, Speed is uncharacteristically pithy: "It's a very cool place," he says. mensjournal.com

We thought we were being clever and pithy, but it's bloody hard. prweek.com

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates says some of the issues debated in Monday night's presidential debate can't be wrapped up in a few pithy words. tulsaworld.com

Televised debate at the University of Denver is sure to offer a blend of choreography and spontaneity: both men have spent hours rehearsing smart lines and pithy comebacks with proxy opponents. nbcsandiego.com

Movie Review Man on a Ledge : Pithy picture talks itself down. dispatch.com

AT the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama shared a pithy car story calculated to remind Americans of her husband's humble origins. nytimes.com

With the internet coming out of nowhere and Twitter being hauntingly familiar and all of these devices that are using snarky, pithy text, they... mix949.com

Faulkner, one of America's greatest writers, generally not known for pithy quotations . cnn.com

George Will was particularly pithy and funny when asked if the president has gon. rko.com

Usage in scientific papers

John Wheeler also made another pithy summary of his insights: It from bit .
Emergence from Symmetry: A New Type of Cellular Automata

Usage in literature

Pithy sayings are numerous. "The Ship of Fools, Volume 1" by Sebastian Brandt

I crystallized my ideas into pithy sentences which a child could have understood. "Love Among the Chickens" by P. G. Wodehouse

He abounds in all manner of pithy sayings, many of them wise, a few of them profound, and not one which is unworthy a second reading. "The Bibliotaph" by Leon H. Vincent

Lincoln listened for hours one night, speaking only at rare intervals to tell a pithy story, until the clock struck one. "Pushing to the Front" by Orison Swett Marden

The interior of the tree is full of useless pithy matter. "Mark Seaworth" by William H.G. Kingston

An immense amount of chattering by the others followed these pithy remarks of the principals. "Black Ivory" by R.M. Ballantyne

The following four may be called "Maxims," and the first is singularly pithy and powerfully expressed. "Chaldea" by Zénaïde A. Ragozin

Hathelsborough suddenly became flooded with handbills and posters, each bearing a few pithy words in enormous type. "In the Mayor's Parlour" by J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher

Fire would seem to spoil the curt, pithy expression of vitality which belongs to its uncooked juices. "The Stock-Feeder's Manual" by Charles Alexander Cameron

So well did he do his work that after nearly two hundred years we are still quoting his pithy sayings. "Children's Literature" by Charles Madison Curry

Usage in poetry
The pithy elder copses sigh;
Their broad blue combs with berries weighed,
Like heavy pendulums are swayed
With ev'ry gust that hurries by.
Shall the tongue that was spoken by Wallace the wicht,
In the sangs o' thy poets sae lo'esum and bricht,
Sae pithy an' pawkie, sae tender an' true,
O' sense and slee humour an' feelin' sae fu';
A blue sky out of the Oresteia
Arches above us. O father, all by yourself
You are pithy and historical as the Roman Forum.
I open my lunch on a hill of black cypress.
Your fluted bones and acanthine hair are littered