brine

American  

[brahyn] / braɪn /

noun

1. water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.

2. a salt and water solution for pickling.

3. the sea or ocean.

4. the water of the sea.

5. Chemistry. any saline solution.

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verb (used with object)

brined, brining

1. to treat with or steep in brine.

brine British  

/ braɪn /

noun

1. a strong solution of salt and water, used for salting and pickling meats, etc

2. the sea or its water

3. chem

   1. a concentrated solution of sodium chloride in water

   2. any solution of a salt in water

      a potassium chloride brine

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verb

1. (tr) to soak in or treat with brine

brine Scientific  

/ brīn /

1. Water saturated with or containing large amounts of a salt, especially sodium chloride. The high salt content is usually due to evaporation or freezing.

2. The water of a sea or ocean.

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Other Word Forms

• brineless
  adjective
• briner
  noun
• brinish
  adjective
• brinishness
  noun
• unbrined
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

Its cameras have filmed rare footage of groups of coelacanths near Indonesia, and observed newly discovered brine pools in the Red Sea.

From Barron's • Jan. 26, 2026

The other two are brine shrimp and brine flies, which are crucial food sources for millions of migratory birds that stop at the lake each year.

From Science Daily • Jan. 10, 2026

The lake also contributes about $2 billion to the state’s economy, from mineral mining, recreation and the harvesting of brine shrimp.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

It’s almost as if the Reds were intimidated even before the game began, as the Dodgers buried them in their thickest pregame brine.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 1, 2025

I spat and coughed, desperate to expel the scent of sea brine clogging my lungs.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Related Words

• marinade
• vinegar