A casual lunch with a friend could quickly become a terse exchange of words if I had recently received a negative test result or if I had interpreted a comment as insensitive.

Mirroring the starkness of the landscape, the film is nearly free of dialogue, with only the occasional terse exchange between characters.

The atmosphere is decisively paramilitary, with a secretary and an assistant calling Mr. Bandler "sir" in terse, formal exchanges.

There followed a terse exchange with Jake Chapman, still propped up at the bar.

A storm of whispering broke out on the benches at this terse exchange, and the three men took silent stock of each other's positions.

A great deal went unspoken in the terse exchange.

They might as well be speaking Klingon, except that there were no nerd-friendly dictionaries on the market to decode their terse exchange of comments.

"Ryan thought I wasn't working very hard," Benton said of a terse exchange the two had last spring.

After overhearing their terse exchange, McCoy was ready for Kirk's next question.

Mr. Pelecanos portrays the often terse yet loving exchanges between Ramone and his son, Diego.