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Synonyms

in a nutshell

Idioms  

  1. Concisely, in a few words, as in Here's our proposal—in a nutshell, we want to sell the business to you. This hyperbolic expression alludes to the Roman writer Pliny's description of Homer's Iliad being copied in so tiny a hand that it could fit in a nutshell. For a time it referred to anything compressed, but from the 1500s on it referred mainly to written or spoken words.

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.

But this sorry idea is British industrial decline in a nutshell.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026

The summit "in a nutshell, will be an opportunity to emphasise that Europe's security is a 360-degree challenge", said a senior EU official.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

So in a nutshell it’s a very affordable rent.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 29, 2026

When asked if it was an epidemic the government was failing to cope with, he responded "in a nutshell, yes".

From BBC • Jan. 22, 2026

It made a clinking sound, which in a nutshell, is what losing sounded like.

From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds

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.

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