trenchant
TREN-chuntadjMeaning sharp, clear and forceful, cutting straight to the point
Memory hook the TRENCH COAT detective: sharp and clear. The detective in the trench coat sums up the case in one sharp, clear line: “The cake thief has frosting on his sleeve.” Her remark is trenchant.
The coach’s trenchant comments at halftime showed the team exactly what was going wrong.
In context Unlike the other reviewers, who praised the film vaguely, Ms. Lin wrote a trenchant critique that named its three biggest flaws in plain, sharp words.
Similar incisive, sharp, keen, pointed
Opposite vague, mild, woolly
From Old French trenchant, “cutting,” from trenchier (to cut), the same source as trench.