briefly
Americanadverb
-
for a short duration.
He stopped over briefly in Chicago.
-
in a few words.
Let me explain briefly.
-
in a brief manner; quickly or brusquely.
She nodded briefly and began to speak.
Usage
What does briefly mean? Briefly means for a short amount of time. It can also mean concisely or in a few words, as opposed to in a longer manner, as in State your main argument briefly in a sentence or two. Briefly is the adverb form of the adjective brief, which most commonly means lasting a short time or concise. Because it’s an adverb, briefly is used to describe verbs (actions), as in I briefly considered it, or adjectives, as in The conversation was briefly tense, but then everyone started to get along. Example: It rained briefly, probably only for a few minutes.
Etymology
Origin of briefly
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at brief, -ly
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.
That’s how some refer to blockbooks, which were briefly an alternative to handwritten and typographically printed books in the 15th century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
It's not the first time McLoughlin's worked with IO - he appeared, briefly, in their James Bond game 007: First Light earlier this year.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Seoul briefly jumped more than four percent, thanks to strong gains in chipmakers SK hynix and Samsung, while Tokyo added around two percent on the back of spikes in Kioxia, Advantest and SoftBank.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
The first pulses briefly heat a localized area of the magnetic material, causing a small region to reverse its magnetic orientation.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026
He looked up briefly and went back to his examination of her skin.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
