Word
Of
The
Day
incisive
incisive \in-SYE-siv\
adjective
Incisive means "impressively direct and decisive." It is generally applied to either something communicated in a way that is very clear and direct, or to a person who is able to explain difficult ideas clearly and confidently.
// The columnist is known for her
incisive commentary on local politics.
See the entry >
Examples:
"'Death Becomes Her' might be a combination of an uproarious
camp sensibility and the grotesquely macabre, but it also contains
incisive social critiques—of impossible beauty standards for women, the difficulties of aging, and the lengths people will go to maintain their youthful looks." — Christopher Wallenberg,
The Boston Globe, 1 June 2025
Did you know?
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").