brisk
Americanadjective
-
brisker,
comparative
-
briskest
superlative
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
-
lively and quick; vigorous
a brisk walk
trade was brisk
-
invigorating or sharp
brisk weather
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of brisk
First recorded in 1580–90; of uncertain origin
Explanation
Brisk is one of those delightful words that sounds like what it means: quick, lively, bracing, and refreshing. There's nothing like a brisk walk in the morning to get the blood flowing and the spirit ready for the day. Anything brisk is happening quickly but not too fast. Probably taken from the French brusque, which also means "quick," but in a more negative way, brisk can be used to describe not only physical actions but also more conceptual notions, such as brisk business around the holidays or brisk interactions at a speed-dating event. The soft-drink called Brisk must be called that for a good reason. Perhaps it picks you up!
Vocabulary lists containing brisk
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Peabody’s brisk pace of sales is in stark contrast to the national housing market.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Our apartment was about ten minutes from Lake Michigan; perhaps proximity alone would turn me into one of those women who began the day with a brisk swim.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
The findings support once weekly brisk interval walking as a practical therapeutic option for adults with central obesity, especially those who have difficulty fitting several workouts into their schedules.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 2, 2026
My skin took on the sheen of someone who had just returned from a brisk run.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The blue willows spiraled in the brisk, warm wind.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
While heatwave conditions will continue across many parts of England and Wales through this coming week, a brisker wind means temperatures have dropped a degree or two relative to recent days.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
From time to time I’ll make an exception and settle into a relative page-turner: nothing with cliffhangers or lots of hand-to-hand combat, mind you, but with a brisker narrative pace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The start of snow crab season in mid-October would usher in brisker business.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2022
As a northeasterner, I've long associated back to school with the cooler, brisker days of pumpkin spice season.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2022
One morning there was a different smell in the air, and the ship was moving oddly, with a brisker rocking from side to side instead of the plunging and soaring.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
Mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly accelerated in August to the briskest pace since April and firms reported input price pressures eased to the lowest since late 2020.
From Reuters ● Aug. 18, 2022
The planets are putting on an amazing celestial show nightly, and many regions of the country are about to host some of the briskest bird traffic of the year.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2021
Ms. Mearns, never rushed by this, creates marvelous dynamic variety within it, often finding time to phrase with seeming slowness, while rising to its briskest passages as if riding the full power of a wave.
From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2015
British factories followed Asia's lead, increasing activity at the fastest rate in seven months while creating new jobs in at the briskest pace in more than three years.
From Reuters ● Jul. 1, 2014
It was the briskest kind of a bicker that ensued for a little while there on the bosky, broomy hill-side in the evening light.
From Red Axe by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
Then we all brisked round an' begun settin' the children up on the cots—two or three to a cot, with one of us to wait on 'em.
From Friendship Village by Gale, Zona
Bakers' shops were piled high with WEIHNACHTSSTOLLEN, which were a special mark of the festival: cakes shaped like torpedoes, whose sugared, almonded coats brisked brown and tempting.
From Maurice Guest by Richardson, Henry Handel
As they brisked along the walk past Mr. Terrence Severn’s Overlook House, they spied Trix and her party on the big veranda.
From The Corner House Girls Under Canvas How they reached Pleasant Cove and what happened afterward by Hill, Grace Brooks
House of Commons, Monday, August 7.—House brisked up to-day on approaching Report Stage Home-Rule Bill; over three hundred Members present, including Joseph, fresh from Birmingham; on whole, a melancholy gathering.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105, August 19th 1893 by Various
The old landlord brisked up wonderfully at the prospect of such a struggle.
From A Tramp's Notebook by Roberts, Morley
The two friends entered The Hague, brisking up their pace and stepping gallantly abreast.
From The Blue Pavilions by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
As I write the breeze is brisking up, doors are beginning to slam: and shutters; a strong draught sweeps round the balcony; it looks doubtful for to-morrow.
From Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson — Volume 2 by Stevenson, Robert Louis
As I write, the breeze is brisking up, doors are beginning to slam, and shutters; a strong draught sweeps round the balcony; it looks doubtful for to-morrow.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 24 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
“He wandered off by himself,” Major Coote answered, brisking up a little.
From Athelstane Ford by Upward, Allen
She was relieved to see that the oddly assorted men and women about her were brisking up, and beginning to talk, even to laugh, with one another.
From From out the Vasty Deep by Lowndes, Marie Belloc
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
