incisive

Etymology

Late Middle English (in the sense “cutting, penetrating”), borrowed from Medieval Latin incīsīvus, from incīdō (“to cut in, cut through”) + -īvus (“-ive”, adjectival suffix). Compare Middle French incisif.

adj

1. (of a person or mental process) Intelligently analytical and concise.
   1. (of an account) Accurate and sharply focused.
2. (of an action) Quickly proceeding to judgment and forceful in expression.
   An incisive producer, who expressed vehement disapproval with my pitch upon my first sentence.
   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. 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest
3. Having the quality of incising, cutting, or penetrating, as with a sharp instrument.
   An incisive, high voice. 1862–1863, Mary Ann Evans, Romola
4. (anatomy, relational) Of or relating to the incisors.
   the incisive bones, the premaxillaries