briefing
Americannoun
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briefings
plural
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Military. a short, factual oral summary of the details of a current or projected military operation given to the participants or observers.
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any set of concise instructions or a summary of events.
noun
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a meeting at which detailed information or instructions are given, as for military operations, etc
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the facts presented during such a meeting
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of briefing
Explanation
If you plan on going to the briefing at the White House, you'd better bring your audio recorder. These informational sessions can get very detailed, and you'll need to review the audio record. When a lawyer appears before a court, they bring with them a "brief," a detailed explanation of their case that's anything but brief. This brief is a sort of briefing for the judge on the details of the case. Whenever you give someone a detailed explanation or set of instructions about something, it's a briefing. Briefing is the noun form of the word brief. The White House press corps meets in the "briefing room" to get briefed on the news of the president's day.
Vocabulary lists containing briefing
State of the Union Address 2016
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This Week In Words: November 28–December 4, 2020
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"The Evolution of a Great Idea"
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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:
After the post circulated, Trump held a press briefing from the Oval Office to discuss drug pricing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
CNN reported Friday afternoon that “CNN reporters remained seated in their White House workspace near the briefing room.”
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
Susan said she wasn't given a "safety briefing, protective clothing or anything" and office staff never knew they were at risk.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
This abstraction turned to subterfuge in the challengers’ briefing before the Supreme Court last month.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026
I was told there was an assembly at Central with the military briefing the students.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
Ellwood told BBC Newsnight he now believes some information he gave to Parliament about the UK's nuclear programme, based on MoD briefings, was "a complete lie".
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Leavitt's tenure as press secretary saw a revival of regular briefings that had petered out during the first term, but she presided over sea change on White House interactions with journalists.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department gave no briefings that weekend but asked members of the media to stay off the Guthrie property.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
He said that Wright had “explained this numerous times in briefings on Capitol Hill.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Instead, he returned to Washington for two more weeks of briefings.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
