brief

American  

[breef] / brif /

adjective

• briefer,
  comparative
• briefest
  superlative

1. lasting or taking a short time; of short duration.

   a brief walk; a brief stay in the country.

   Synonyms:

   transient, ephemeral, transitory, fleeting, short-lived

2. using few words; concise; succinct.

   a brief report on weather conditions.

   Synonyms:

   condensed, pithy, compact, terse

3. abrupt or curt.

4. scanty.

   a brief bathing suit.

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noun

• briefs
  plural

1. a short and concise statement or written item.

   Synonyms:

   abstract, epitome, précis, outline

2. an outline, the form of which is determined by set rules, of all the possible arguments and information on one side of a controversy.

   a debater's brief.

3. Law.

   1. a writ summoning one to answer to any action.

   2. a memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.

   3. a written argument submitted to a court.

   4. (in England) the material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who tries the case.

4. an outline, summary, or synopsis, as of a book.

5. (used with a plural verb) briefs, close-fitting, legless underpants with an elastic waistband.

6. a briefing.

7. Roman Catholic Church. a papal letter less formal than a bull, sealed with the pope's signet ring or stamped with the device borne on this ring.

8. British Theater. a free ticket; pass.

9. Obsolete. a letter.

verb (used with object)

• briefs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• briefed,
  past participle,  past
• briefing
  present participle

1. to make an abstract or summary of.

   Synonyms:

   outline, summarize

2. to instruct by a brief or briefing.

   They brief all the agents before assigning them.

3. Law. to retain as advocate in a suit.

idioms

1. in brief, in a few words; in short.

   The supervisor outlined in brief the duties of the new assistant.

2. hold a brief for, to support or defend by argument; endorse.

brief British  

/ briːf /

adjective

1. short in duration

   a brief holiday

2. short in length or extent; scanty

   a brief bikini

3. abrupt in manner; brusque

   the professor was brief with me this morning

4. terse or concise; containing few words

   he made a brief statement

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noun

1. a condensed or short statement or written synopsis; abstract

2. law a document containing all the facts and points of law of a case by which a solicitor instructs a barrister to represent a client

3. RC Church a letter issuing from the Roman court written in modern characters, as contrasted with a papal bull; papal brief

4. short for briefing

5. a paper outlining the arguments and information on one side of a debate

6. slang a lawyer, esp a barrister

7. to argue for; champion

8. in short; to sum up

verb

1. to prepare or instruct by giving a summary of relevant facts

2. to make a summary or synopsis of

3. English law

   1. to instruct (a barrister) by brief

   2. to retain (a barrister) as counsel

4. to supply potentially damaging or negative information regarding somone, as to the media, a politician, etc See also briefs

brief More Idioms  

1. see hold no brief for; in brief.

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Usage

What does brief mean? Brief is most commonly used as an adjective to mean lasting a short amount of time. As an adjective, it can also mean concise or said in a few words, as in Keep your introduction brief and get right to the point. Less commonly, brief can describe an action or interaction as abrupt or too short, often in a rude way, as in Please don’t be so brief with customers. The adverb form of the adjective brief is briefly, which most commonly means for a short amount of time or concisely. As a noun, the word brief commonly means a short written item. In a legal context, a brief is a short legal document, such as a written argument submitted to a court or some other short statement of facts for use in a legal case. Brief can also be used as a verb meaning to provide a short explanation or summary of something to someone, as in Each cabinet member will brief the president on the most important issues. The noun briefing refers to a meeting at which someone is briefed in this way. Example: The meeting was very brief—it lasted only a few minutes.

Synonym Usage

See short. See summary.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• briefer
  noun
• briefness
  noun
• unbriefness
  noun
• unbrief
  adjective
• unbriefed
  adjective
• briefly
  adverb
• unbriefly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• briefs
  plural

Adjectives

• briefer
  comparative
• briefest
  superlative

Participles

• briefing
  present
• briefed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• brief
  simple
• briefs
  simple
• have briefed
  perfect
• has briefed
  perfect
• am briefing
  progressive
• are briefing
  progressive
• is briefing
  progressive
• have been briefing
  perfect progressive
• has been briefing
  perfect progressive

Past

• briefed
  simple
• had briefed
  perfect
• was briefing
  progressive
• were briefing
  progressive
• had been briefing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will brief
  simple
• will have briefed
  perfect
• will be briefing
  progressive
• will have been briefing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of brief

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bref, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin brevis “short”; see breve

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Explanation

Something brief is short and to the point. If you make a brief visit, you don't stay long. If you make a brief statement, you use few words. If you wear brief shorts, you are showing a little too much leg. As a noun, a brief is a condensed summary or abstract, especially a legal summary of a case. Lawyers submit pretrial briefs to the court outlining the witnesses for the prosecution or defense. As a verb, brief means to give essential information to someone — like the President gets briefed on important matters.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brief briefs briefer briefest briefed briefing

How did Katie Zacharia do at her first - very brief - White House briefing?

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

But again, why did she feel the need to brief us on her first day in the office?

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

Using these brief snapshots, the researchers tested whether patterns of brain activity could predict two different outcomes: how emotionally intense participants found a picture and whether they would remember that picture the following day.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

But after a brief phone call, she invited them over and agreed to be filmed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

“You should’ve read the article. They say she’s done so much with her part. Even though her scenes are brief, she upstages Douglas Fairbanks!”

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Once the Court had those documents and the amicus briefs, the whole packet was distributed to the justices at 10 separate conferences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

“I believe a plainer worry sits beneath the briefs and the news releases ... The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN,” Ellison wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Federal judges have found that the government filed statements generated by artificial intelligence that referenced nonexistent case law, wrote briefs that ignored facts and filed declarations with inaccurate dates, the ProPublica review shows.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026

He briefs reporters and does television interviews, but few people would recognize him on the streets of most cities in America.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

I could now spend the day reading, writing letters, discussing issues with my comrades, or formulating legal briefs.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Ex-CIA vice presidential briefer Julia Curlee is lately lauded everywhere for courage in coming out as trans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

Those uprisings, later coined the Arab Spring, succeeded in bringing about a short democratic sojourn in Tunisia and a much briefer one in Egypt, but they also unleashed unrest.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

He said he was confident the prime minister would want to find who the anonymous briefer was and "get rid of them if he can find out".

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2025

We made a very conscious choice to keep it on the briefer side because it is challenging subject matter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2024

Today, our jet planes have made even the longest intercontinental flights briefer than the duration of any human infectious disease.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

After repeatedly warning of the rivers’ endangerment, however, Mr. Winder concludes with only the briefest summary of the projects currently aimed at guarding against the dire outcomes he foresees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

In his memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery,” published this year, Newsom acknowledges the liaison with Rippey, describing it as “the briefest of affairs.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Under former general manager Perry Minasian, college players would be stoked to be drafted by the Angels, who did not hesitate to promote top prospects to the major leagues after the briefest of minor-league stints.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

Journalists crowd together in the hope of hearing from him, microphones are thrust into the air and camera operators stretch above the crowd for the briefest glimpse of the game's biggest star.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

For the briefest moment, fear clenched his bowels.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In its report about the alleged order regarding Starshield, Reuters quoted two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

But it was easy to see an implied threat, according to one of these people and other officials briefed on the conversation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

Quoting Flynn, it says: "I was not briefed on this incident, however details were shared with the former cabinet secretary for transport on 30 June 2025, in line with agreed processes."

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

He then looked to join an airline that would fly to Israel and sought to be put on FlyDubai’s route between Dubai and Tel Aviv, the people briefed on the investigation said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

He had briefed the staff in the laboratory on Leesburg Pike—which had been handling monkey blood and tissue samples— about the need to handle these specimens as if they were infected with the aids virus.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

"I think we conflate the way we colloquially use the word 'addicted' – like, 'I'm addicted to this show, and I'm binge-watching it' – and clinical addiction," he told a press briefing in Sydney.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Her first briefing on Tuesday lasted only 14 minutes as she took questions from just three reporters at Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail, appearing flustered and disorganized.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

Zacharia held her first White House press briefing on Tuesday with an unusually short press conference where she answered questions from three journalists.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Watch: How did Katie Zacharia do at her first - very brief - White House briefing?

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

The officers of the other five planes in each flight arrived in trucks for the general briefing that took place thirty minutes later.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

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Related Words

• concise
• fleeting
• momentary
• quick
• short-lived
• swift
• temporary

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