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Glite Dictionary
💡 Clear and sharp 🔪 Sharp for cutting
incisive

incisive

1 6.8
A thing like a knife that is sharp enough to cut or pierce
  • adjective
  • /ɪnˈsaɪsɪv/
translation icon : incisivo

Examples

  • The blood supply from the incisive foramen should also remain intact.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The music of the period was vigorous, incisive, creative, and proposed a lifestyle, a worldview.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The lines of her body break; every gesture decomposes into a hundred precise, angular, incisive movements.

    Academic text (2014)

  • My point is almost the opposite: that the original formulations from which such notions are derived were often groundbreaking, potent, incisive, provocative, and even decisive for current and future political, cultural, and intellectual life.

    Blog text (10)

  • His incisive knife easily sliced through the tough steak.

  • The surgeon used an incisive scalpel to perform the delicate operation.

  • With its incisive edge, the blade made short work of the thick rope.

Synonyms

sharp
vsincisive
301 1.0

A thing with an edge that can cut or pierce

is used mainly for tools, teeth, or edges designed for cutting
as sharp as a razor-blade
vsincisive
5.0

Very clear and exact so there is no doubt

is a typical cutting edge rather than an exceptionally keen one

Antonyms

blunt
109 1.0

An object with a dull edge or tip that does not cut well

dull
17 1.0

Not having a sharp edge so it cuts poorly

How Sharp

razor-sharp
8 4.1
incisive
1 6.8
sharp
301 1.0
blunt
109 1.0

Surface Forms

incisive positive

Morphology

incisive = incise (transparent) = incise + ive

The adjective is directly formed from the verb 'incise' with the productive suffix '-ive', giving a literal meaning 'cutting' or 'suitable for cutting'.

Etymology

Incisive comes from the Latin incidere which means 'to cut into', and you can see the same root in incisor and incision. So for a tool or tooth, incisive means 'sharp' and able to cut or pierce.