incisive
adjective
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An incisive person doesn’t hem and haw—they get straight to the point. The original meaning of incisive, from around 1600, was "having a cutting edge or piercing point"; the modern meaning of "impressively direct and decisive" has been part of English since the mid-1800s. Incisive is a close relative of incisor, which refers to a front tooth typically adapted for cutting, so it's no surprise that incisive has a specific meaning in dentistry, describing that which is of, relating to, or situated near the incisors. Both incisive and incisor come from the Latin verb caedere, meaning "to cut." English is rich in cuttings from the fruitful stem of caedere: some examples to sink your teeth into are scissors, chisel, incise ("to cut into or engrave"), excise ("to remove by cutting"), incision ("cut" or "gash"), precise ("minutely exact"), and concise ("brief").
Examples of incisive in a Sentence
Liam Tharme, New York Times, 31 Oct. 2025
Pritam’s Partition writings offer incisive critiques of the barbarity that became life with borders but also contest notions of belonging from a feminist perspective.
—JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
While his investments expand, Johnson's social media persona has remained remarkably consistent in its preference for obvious facts over incisive opinions.
—Jon Paul Hoornstra, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
The Silver Hugo for Best Female Performance goes to Eszter Tompa for KONTINENTAL ’25 for her subtle, incisive, never caricatural acting.
—Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incisive
Cite this Entry
“Incisive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incisive. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
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incisive
adjective
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incisive
adjective
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