brine
Americannoun
-
brines
plural
-
water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.
-
a salt and water solution for pickling.
-
the sea or ocean.
-
the water of the sea.
-
Chemistry. any saline solution.
verb (used with object)
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brines,
present (3rd person singular)
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brined,
past participle, past
-
brining
present participle
noun
-
a strong solution of salt and water, used for salting and pickling meats, etc
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the sea or its water
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chem
-
a concentrated solution of sodium chloride in water
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any solution of a salt in water
a potassium chloride brine
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verb
-
Water saturated with or containing large amounts of a salt, especially sodium chloride. The high salt content is usually due to evaporation or freezing.
-
The water of a sea or ocean.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
brinesimple
-
brinessimple
-
have brinedperfect
-
has brinedperfect
-
am briningprogressive
-
are briningprogressive
-
is briningprogressive
-
have been briningperfect progressive
-
has been briningperfect progressive
Past
-
brinedsimple
-
had brinedperfect
-
was briningprogressive
-
were briningprogressive
-
had been briningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of brine
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English brȳne; cognate with Dutch brijn
Explanation
Water that contains salt is called brine. You can always tell when you are close to the ocean, because you can smell the brine and hear the sea gulls. Brine is also a salty solution used to pickle or preserve foods. If you want to make pickles, you have to soak cucumbers in brine for several days or even weeks before canning them. As a verb, brine means to soak in a salty solution. If you live in the southern United States, you might brine watermelon rind and okra, which may sound strange to someone from Michigan's Upper Peninsula who's more familiar with brining eggs.
Vocabulary lists containing brine
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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:
Savory cocktails have become de rigueur in recent years, and if we’re willing to sip olive or oyster brine, why not try some broth in your drink?
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
"We do not know if these magnesium organic compounds were contributed by brine chemistry or were simply left over from earlier impact shock processes."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
Controlled Thermal Resources wants to extract lithium from hot brine that will be used to power a geothermal electricity plant it plans to build.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
The reserve has experienced 16 major equipment failures since 2013, including of raw water and brine disposal piping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Crabs scrabbled inside casks of brine and seaweed.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Highly concentrated brines can keep phosphate dissolved in solution and can promote chemical reactions involving organic compounds and minerals that precipitate from solution.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
Energy companies are viewed as a natural fit for producing lithium, which is sourced by pumping salty brines from underground using similar techniques to oil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
It also removed magnesium, one of the most common contaminants in lithium brines, through a chemical precipitation step that separates the unwanted material.
From Science Daily ● May 23, 2026
The kind of pickles you use also matters, as some brines lean more sweeter, while others are saltier.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2025
As this mixture of substances naturally suggested the composition of the "mother liquors" from salt brines, Mr. Price made an analysis of such a sample of "bittern" from the Snow Hill furnace, Kanawha Co.,
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888 by Various
Eaton uses a carefully sourced heritage breed bird that’s brined, deboned and served in butter for $35.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Each ingredient, from blistered tomatoes to the brined treasures of the olive bar, is layered with intention, coaxing depth from pantry staples while keeping the cooking simple and approachable.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
At Barking Frog, you can enjoy a three-course meal featuring brined turkey breast, beef tenderloin, seared wild salmon or a vegan veggie potpie as the entree, plus a starter and a dessert.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
After Kim purchased an unglazed onggi from his hometown on Jeju Island, South Korea, he and Hu measured carbon dioxide levels as brined cabbage fermented in both the onggi and a tightly sealed glass jar.
From Scientific American ● May 16, 2023
There was roast duck and sweet, brined pork and tender, spiced lamb.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
If the batteries are too damaged for that to be done, crews will discharge them through brining, during which they are submerged in a water-and-salt solution.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025
At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the roof of Globe Life Field began to open, revealing a partially cloudy sky and brining in some cool spring air with steady winds.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
The Sportsound team are already on air building up to kick off in Amsterdam, before brining you full live commentary.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2024
“We took him out of the game as soon as he was brining it up to the trainers and coaches,” Baldelli said.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 30, 2023
To be honest, there was another reason I chose the brining and grilling method.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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.
