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  1. curt love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Rudely brief or abrupt, as in speech or manner. See Synonyms at gruff.
  2. adj. Using few words; terse.
  3. adj. Having been shortened.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Short; concise; compressed.
  2. Short and dry; tartly abrupt; brusk.
  3. A contraction of current: common in acct. curt., account current.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude.
  2. adj. Short or concise

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Characterized by excessive brevity; short; rudely concise.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. brief and to the point; effectively cut short
  2. adj. marked by rude or peremptory shortness

Etymologies

  1. From the Latin curtus ("shortened"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, short, brief, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin curtus; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “He said little of himself, but as he went on in short, curt sentences the picture grew more distinct, and to Virginia the man became more and more prominent in it.”

    Conjuror's House A Romance of the Free Forest

  • “Loder talked continuously, sometimes in short, curt sentences, sometimes with ironic touches of humor; he talked until”

    The Masquerader

  • “He would speak a curt farewell and step out of the lives of the two.”

    Harrigan

  • “Another German "fashion", the way they go about things, could be described as curt, without hesitation, and always adequate.”

    Colorado Headline News

  • “you know curt, that is the trouble reviewing stuff nobody does first.”

    FRANKENSTEIN '69 by Ed Martin (Olympia 1969)

  • “Unless they actually meant to be 'curt' to someone, like actually being rude to customers ...”

    merrickal Diary Entry

  • “I mind well enough, I reckon," I said, kind of curt-like.”

    Further Chronicles of Avonlea

  • “Ling Chu, his impassive Chinese servant, had observed those symptoms of perplexity before, but now there was something new in his master's demeanour -- a kind of curt irritation, an anxiety which in the Hunter of”

    The Daffodil Mystery

  • “I remember one woman had a journey where the plants were smoking cigarettes and were kind of curt with her.”

    Chicago Reader

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synonyms (4)

Words with the same meaning

  1. short
  1. brusque
  1. blunt
  1. abrupt

equivalents (2)

Other words for ‘curt’

  1. concise
  1. discourteous

same context (18)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. terse
  2. peremptory
  3. brusque
  1. abrupt
  2. emphatic
  3. contemptuous
  1. cryptic
  2. perfunctory
  3. imperious
  1. authoritative
  2. businesslike
  3. polite
  1. hasty
  2. brisk
  3. jerky
  1. crisp
  2. formal
  3. dismissive

rhymes (43)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Bert
  2. Evert
  3. Insert
  4. Kurt
  5. alert
  6. assert
  7. avert
  8. birt
  1. blurt
  2. burt
  3. chert
  4. concert
  5. convert
  6. desert
  7. dessert
  8. dirt
  1. disconcert
  2. divert
  3. evert
  4. exert
  5. flirt
  6. gert
  7. girt
  8. hert
  1. hurt
  2. inert
  3. insert
  4. invert
  5. overt
  6. peart
  7. pert
  8. pervert
  1. reassert
  2. revert
  3. shirt
  4. skirt
  5. spurt
  6. squirt
  7. subvert
  8. turret
  1. unhurt
  2. vert
  3. wert

reverse dictionary (24)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. fiery-sh⊚rt
  2. curtal
  3. curtly
  4. curtness
  1. cavalier
  2. nippy
  3. short-spoken
  4. azo-
  1. blate
  2. crusty
  3. curt
  4. snappish
  1. short
  2. brusque
  3. abrupt
  4. brief
  1. shortly
  2. brush-off
  3. bluntly
  4. pungent
  1. r
  2. snaphance
  3. squab
  4. total

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Comments

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  • biocon In addition, curt means short in linear extent (length). Jun 3, 2012

  • PossibleUnderscore Polite, but cutting at the same time. Jul 19, 2009

  • sonnyjoefoxx
    MISS GIDDENS
    I mean - I've met the two maids, and the cook, and her husband, the gardener. But I was wondering if - if perhaps there was someone I hadn't met?

    MRS. GROSE
    (with a short, curt laugh, swiping a chair with her duster)
    Bless you, I wish there was! We could use another pair of hands around here!
    May 19, 2008

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‘curt’ has been looked up 3792 times, loved by 8 people, added to 34 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 6.