inct_ statement has its important thoughts _bound_ into
small compass, as by a girdle. A _compendious_ statement _weighs
together_ the various thoughts and aspects of a subject; it shows by
means of a few effective words just what these amount to, gives a summary
of them. A _compact_ statement has its units of thought _fastened
together_ into firmness of structure; its brevity is well-knit. A
_sententious_ statement gives _feelings_ or opinions_ in a
strikingly pointed or axiomatic way, so that they can be easily grasped
and remembered; if _sententious_ is unfavorably used, the statement
may be filled with paraded platitudes. A _pithy_ statement gives the
very _pith_, the heart of a matter; it is sometimes slightly quaint,
always effective and arresting. A _laconic_ statement is made in the
manner of _the Spartans_, who hated talk and used as few words as
possible. A _curt_ statement is _made short_; its abruptness is
oftentimes more or less rude.

_Sentences_: "A tale should be judicious, clear, ____. The language
plain, and incidents well link'd." "Charles Lamb made the most ____
criticism of Spenser when he called him the poet's poet." With a ____
disdainful answer she turned away. The sermon was filled with ____
sayings. By omitting all irrelevant details, he made his statement of the
case ____. It requires great skill to give a ____ statement of what such a
treatise contains. A proverb is a ____ statement of a truth.

<Death, decease, demise.>

Men are as mindful of rank and pretension in their terms for the cessation
of life as in their choice of tombstones for the departed. _Death_ is
the great, democratic, unspoilable word. It is not too good for a clown or
too poor for an emperor. _Decease_ is a more formal word. Its
employment is often legal--the death proves to be of sufficient importance
for the law (and the lawyers) to take notice. _Demise_, however, is
outwardly the most resplendent term of all. It implies that the victim cut
a wide swath even in death. It is used of an illustrious person, as a
king, who transmits his title to an heir. Ordinary people cannot afford a
_demise_. If the term is applied to their shuffling off of this
mortal coil, the use is euphemistic and likely to be stilted.

_Sentences_: "The crown at the moment of ____ must descend to the
next heir." "____ is a fearful thing." "In their ____ they were not
divided." At the ____ of his father he inherited the estate. "Each shall
take