Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for short and sweet

short and sweet

[ shawrt uhn sweet ]

idiom

  1. pleasantly brief and relevant:

    We're in a hurry, so make it short and sweet.



Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of short and sweet1

First recorded in 1540–50
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Satisfyingly brief and pertinent, as in When we asked about the coming merger, the chairman's answer was short and sweet—it wasn't going to happen . This expression was already proverbial in 1539, when it appeared in Richard Taverner's translation of Erasmus's Adagia . Over the years it was occasionally amplified, as in James Kelly's Scottish Proverbs (1721): “Better short and sweet than long and lax.”

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement