to the point

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Prepositional phrase

to the point

1. (idiomatic) Relevant or pertinent; succinct; specific.

   His letter was short and to the point.

   But, more to the point…

   • 2015 July 2, Peter Bradshaw, “Amy review – a harrowing account of Winehouse's tragic destiny”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Jonathan Ross is shown congratulating her on being “common” and his identifying the elephant in the room is to the point, although the film doesn’t press the point of how that voice just surged up.

   • 2024 January 10, Howard Johnston, “Launched for enthusiasts - now it's for everyone”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 29:

     Going for broke, the BRB said that Edinburgh-Aberdeen and Hull-Doncaster-Leeds should be considered [for electrification], along with Plymouth-Penzance and Crewe-Holyhead, all to be in place by 2001. Norman Fowler's reply was short and to the point: Sorry, no.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see to,‎ point.

Synonyms

• on point; See also Thesaurus:concise and Thesaurus:pertinent

Antonyms

• beside the point

Derived terms

• get to the point

Translations

relevant or pertinent, succinct

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: k věci
• Dutch: ter zake
• Finnish: täyttä asiaa
• Portuguese: certeiro (pt)
• Russian: по делу (ru) (po delu), по существу (po suščestvu)
• Scottish Gaelic: pongail
• Spanish: preciso (es), hasta el punto

See also

• up to a point (“to a degree”)