briefing

American  

[bree-fing] / ˈbri fɪŋ /

noun

briefings plural

1. Military. a short, factual oral summary of the details of a current or projected military operation given to the participants or observers.

2. any set of concise instructions or a summary of events.

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briefing British  

/ ˈbriːfɪŋ /

noun

1. a meeting at which detailed information or instructions are given, as for military operations, etc

2. the facts presented during such a meeting

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• briefings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of briefing

First recorded in 1860–65; brief + -ing ¹

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

briefing briefings

Last summer, top Chinese chip developer Huawei Technologies held a closed-door briefing for the country’s technology czar to introduce its latest artificial-intelligence chips.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

China's actions were conducted in a "professional and standard manner that leaves no room for criticism", foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news briefing.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

Tournament organizers are "monitoring closely," White House World Cup task force executive director Andrew Giuliani told a briefing.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

It followed new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s first press briefing at the helm of the central bank, where he vowed to get inflation down to 2%.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

It was nearly noon before he was able to duck into the Cabinet Room with his top advisers for a briefing on developments in Cuba.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Such press briefings have been in doubt as Warsh has looked to reform the Fed’s manner of communications.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

The case is now back at that federal appeals court for full briefings.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

Homelessness went up by 3.4% across the city compared to the previous year, according to two people familiar with the numbers presented by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in closed-door briefings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Some of its language suggests that, despite several briefings, he completely misunderstands the subject of uranium enrichment—crucial to any negotiation with Iran.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026

After all, these press briefings had been his idea in the first place.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman

Related Words

• conference
• discussion
• information
• instruction
• meeting
• update