Brief

/bɹiːf/ · adjective

Meaning

Of short duration; happening quickly..

Definitions by Sense

1. Of short duration; happening quickly.
2. Concise; taking few words.
3. Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.
4. (obsolete) Rife; common; prevalent.
5. (law) A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
6. (law) An answer to any action.
7. (law) A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.
8. (by extension, figurative) A position of interest or advocacy.

Example Sentences

Her reign was brief but spectacular.

Some, how briefe the Life of man / runs his erring pilgrimage, / That the ſtretching of a ſpan, / buckles in his ſumme of age.

It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.

His speech of acceptance was brief but moving.

The briefe ſtyle is that which expreſſeth much in little.

She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.

If Demandt's essay served as a strident example of the German desire for normalcy, a more subtle example was provided by a brief allohistorical depiction of a Nazi victory in World War II written by German historian Michael Salewski in 1999.

Synonyms for brief

Antonyms for brief

Related Words

Word Forms

• briefer
• more brief
• briefest
• most brief
• briefs
• briefing
• briefed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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