briefless

[breef-lis]

adjective

1. having no brief.

2. having no clients, as a lawyer.

briefless

/ ˈbriːflɪs /

adjective

1. (said of a barrister) without clients

Other Word Forms

• brieflessly adverb
• brieflessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of briefless¹

1815–25; brief (noun) + -less

Example Sentences

Gandhi's biographer and grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi, says the younger Gandhi - he arrived in South Africa as a 24-year-old briefless lawyer - was undoubtedly "at times ignorant and prejudiced about South Africa's blacks".

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A briefless barrister was spending his time at the Courts when his clerk came to him with the news that a man was at his chambers with a brief.

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"Better be a successful attorney, madam, than a briefless barrister," he observed, when she finished.

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The broken merchant, the ambitious weaver, the briefless lawyer, the literary tailor are speedily sunk, in “we,” and “our sheet,” and “our columns,” and “our-self.”

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In London you certainly were a briefless barrister.

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