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)
-
brines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
brined,
past participle, past
-
brining
present participle
noun
-
a strong solution of salt and water, used for salting and pickling meats, etc
-
the sea or its water
-
chem
-
a concentrated solution of sodium chloride in water
-
any solution of a salt in water
a potassium chloride brine
-
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
In a summer dominated by a retelling of history’s most well-known monster-plagued sea voyage, “The Devil’s Mouth” may seem like a mere bagatelle, a non-Imax drop in the brine ‘n’ blood-splattered hero’s journey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 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
They sailed through the air as the river churned and wailed below them, splashing Annabeth’s bare ankles with stinging brine.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
It has clocked up nearly 10,000 hours of pilot-plant operations testing the brines and is about to commission a 170 ton-a-year demonstration plant, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
About 40% of the world's lithium supply comes from salty underground brines located beneath desert regions.
From Science Daily ● May 23, 2026
To test the system, researchers used synthetic brines designed to mimic conditions at California's Salton Sea, a geothermal region believed to contain enough lithium to supply more than 375 million EV batteries.
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
The principal American sources are alkaline beds and brines in Nebraska, Utah, and California, and especially at Searles Lake, California.
From The Economic Aspect of Geology by C. K. (Charles Kenneth) Leith
The chicken is brought in whole before being butchered and brined in-house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
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
And they preserved to enjoy salted, brined meats and seafood.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 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
Once the meat was soaked, it would be transported to the lower levels to be ground, canned, pickled, brined, extruded into sausage casings, or cut into chops.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
April is notorious for brining a mixed bag of unpredictable weather and this week has been a real example of that.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
The battery brining liquid is a hazardous waste product too and is trucked to another specialized facility, the agency said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025
“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
“I love racing with these girls and I love relays so much and brining home a gold in the last event for Team USA means so much to me and all of us.”
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
To be honest, there was another reason I chose the brining and grilling method.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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