Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Incisive

In-ci′sive

,
Adj.
[Cf. F.
incisif
.]
1.
Having the quality of incising, cutting, or penetrating, as with a sharp instrument; cutting;
hence,
sharp; acute; sarcastic; biting; trenchant.
“An incisive, high voice.”
G. Eliot.
And her
incisive
smile accrediting
That treason of false witness in my blush.
Mrs. Browning.
2.
(Anat.)
Of or pertaining to the incisors; incisor;
as, the
incisive
bones, the premaxillaries
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Incisive

INCI'SIVE

,
Adj.
Having the quality of cutting or separating the superficial part of any thing.
Incisive teeth, in animals, are the fore teeth, the cutters.

Definition 2024


incisive

incisive

English

Adjective

incisive (comparative more incisive, superlative most incisive)

  1. Quickly proceeding to judgment and forceful in expression; decisive; forthright.
    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.
  2. Intelligently analytical and concise.
  3. Having the quality of incising, cutting, or penetrating, as with a sharp instrument; sharp; acute; sarcastic; biting.
    • G. Eliot
      An incisive, high voice.
    • Mrs. Browning
      And her incisive smile accrediting / That treason of false witness in my blush.
  4. (anatomy) Of or relating to the incisors.
    the incisive bones, the premaxillaries

Translations

Derived terms


French

Adjective

incisive

  1. feminine singular of incisif

Noun

incisive f (plural incisives)

  1. incisor

Italian

Adjective

incisive

  1. feminine plural of incisivo

Anagrams