nutshell

[ nuht-shel ]

noun

1. the shell of a nut.

nutshell

/ ˈnʌtˌʃɛl /

noun

1. the shell around the kernel of a nut
2. in a nutshell
   in a nutshell in essence; briefly

Word History and Origins

Origin of nutshell¹

1175–1225; Middle English nutescell; nut, shell

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. in a nutshell, in very brief form; in a few words:

   Just tell me the story in a nutshell.

More idioms and phrases containing nutshell

see in a nutshell .

Example Sentences

In a nutshell, it’s anything above the text of an article or ad, as well as a one-line link to another article, as on the paper’s homepage.

From Washington Post

You’ve just summed up my entire scientific life in a nutshell.

From Nautilus

In a nutshell, it’s a mobile identifier or a string of numbers advertisers use to identify Apple device users across apps and subsequently build a much clearer picture of how they behave.

From Digiday

Maybe one of the most stirring whooshes forward in the entire American culture finds a nutshell in the Fuller family from the northeast suburbs of Dallas.

From Washington Post

In a nutshell, DSAs expand the outreach of search efforts by including keywords that do not necessarily belong to the existing list of search keywords.

From Search Engine Watch

In a nutshell, baijiu is to China what apple pie is to America, if not even more so.

From The Daily Beast

In a nutshell, producers are the ones who oversee a movie from beginning to end.

From The Daily Beast

In a nutshell: She screwed struggling North Carolinians by backing sequestration and the shutdown.

From The Daily Beast

That, in a nutshell, is the response of three right-wing media outlets to the new comedy documentary The Muslims Are Coming!

From The Daily Beast

In a nutshell, you can get rich and famous by being outrageous.

From The Daily Beast

But, sire, we women suppose all we fear, and we turn what is probable into truths; that is the whole of our art in a nutshell.

From Project Gutenberg

Here in a nutshell is the biological basis of sex problem in human society.

From Project Gutenberg

But their laughter died as the farmer opened the nutshell and began shaking out a great web of the finest linen.

From Project Gutenberg

The coach when it came turned out to be an empty nutshell and the five prancing steeds that were drawing it were five black mice.

From Project Gutenberg

Just as Veikko and the nutshell coach had reached the middle of the bridge, a man met them coming from the opposite direction.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• curtail
• cut
• cut down
• diminish
• dwindle
• knock off
• lessen
• lower
• pare
• scale down
• shorten
• slash
• trim
• weaken