to speak trimmingly

9.9

Say something in a brief, critical way

phrasal verb

: hablar de manera concisa

The manager spoke trimmingly about the team's recent performance.

Examples

Critics speak trimmingly of the film's lack of originality.
She tends to speak trimmingly when discussing sensitive topics.
She often speak trimmingly when discussing policies she disagrees with.
Don't speak trimmingly to your friends; be more open!
The journalist speak trimmingly about the politician's controversial statements during the interview.
During the meeting, he speak trimmingly regarding the project's shortcomings, which surprised everyone.
When asked about the budget cuts, she speak trimmingly, highlighting only the negative impacts.

Synonyms

to mince no words

vsto speak trimmingly

Informal

1 7.7

Speak very directly without trying to be polite

says briefly and sometimes critically rather than being bluntly direct

Antonyms

to ramble

Informal

48 5.3

To talk or write for a long time without a clear point

How Concise

to speak trimmingly

9.9

to speak clearly

7 1.0

to ramble

Informal

48 5.3

Surface Forms

speak trimmingly infinitive

speaking trimmingly present participle

speaks trimmingly third person singular

spoke trimmingly past

spoken trimmingly past participle

Morphology

speak + trimmingly

The verb 'speak' is fully transparent, but 'trimmingly' is not a standard English adverb and is lexically unattested here. Learners can partially infer a relation from 'trim/ trimming' (cutting, making concise) plus the adverbial -ly, so a guess of concise or cutting speech is possible, yet the formation and precise nuance are nonstandard and unpredictable for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Speak trimmingly comes from trim, which means 'to cut away' or make neat. Picture someone cutting off loose bits to leave a neat edge. To speak trimmingly is to cut extra words and say short, sometimes sharp things, so it means 'to speak shortly and sometimes in a critical way'.