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  • brill
    brill
    noun
    a European flatfish, Scophthalmus rhombus, closely related to the turbot.
  • Brill
    Brill
    noun
    A(braham) A(rden), 1874–1948, U.S. psychoanalyst and author, born in Austria.

brill

1 American  
[bril] / brɪl /

noun

  • brills,
    plural
  • brill
    plural
  1. a European flatfish, Scophthalmus rhombus, closely related to the turbot.


Brill 2 American  
[bril] / brɪl /

noun

  1. A(braham) A(rden), 1874–1948, U.S. psychoanalyst and author, born in Austria.


brill 1 British  
/ brɪl /

noun

  1. a European food fish, Scophthalmus rhombus , a flatfish similar to the turbot but lacking tubercles on the body: family Bothidae

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

brill 2 British  
/ brɪl /

adjective

  1. slang excellent or wonderful

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of brill

First recorded in 1475–85; of uncertain origin


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:

Sure, the mackerel paté was mesmerising, the pickled oyster piquant and the brill terrine as dazzling as its name suggests.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2019

“I like it. I think it’s brill: all the parades and the pomp and ceremony. And I think the Queen’s amazing.”

From The Guardian ● May 8, 2018

Here, the meat inside is juicy from a wallow in sa-cha sauce, with its briny payload of dried shrimp and ground brill.

From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2018

I was glad to learn that TS Eliot is "brill".

From The Guardian ● Mar. 30, 2013

As a book it's utterly brill but a bit bleak.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

“Over the near term, we expect supply to fall off, unless someone has to borrow,” said Matt Brill, head of North America investment-grade credit at Invesco, of new high-grade bond issuance.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

“Nothing is too big to fail,” Brill said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

Steffensen, a professor of marine biology at the University of Copenhagen, worked with Peter G. Bushnell, who teaches at Indiana University South Bend, and Richard W. Brill of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

Matt Brill, a senior portfolio manager and head of North American investment-grade credit at Invesco, said his team favors short-term bonds on a belief that coming economic data will push the Fed to continue cutting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025

And everybody else began running round and round too—Ellen and Mrs. Brill and the children.

From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers

Dories, smelts, pike, perch, holibets, brills, carp, salmon trout, barbel, gudgeons, tench, shellfish.—Vegetables.

From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Mary Eaton

Once through the gap, experienced men gather the logs, as they are floated downward by the current, into brills.

From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by William Henry Carman Folsom

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