brief.
Of short duration; happening quickly.
Meaning & usage
Of short duration; happening quickly.
Her reign was brief but spectacular.
Concise; taking few words.
His speech of acceptance was brief but moving.
Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.
Rife; common; prevalent.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰusder. Proto-Italic *breɣʷis Latin brevisder. Old French briefbor. Old French brievebor. Middle English bref English brief From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short, brief”). Doublet of breve and merry.
A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate. A short papal letter.
An answer to any action.
A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.
A position of interest or advocacy.
An attorney's legal argument in written form for submission to a court.
The material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who is counsel for the case.
A barrister who is counsel for a party in a legal action.
A short news story or report.
We got a news brief.
Underwear briefs.
I wear boxer shorts under trousers but for sports I usually wear a brief.
Attributive form of briefs.
Swimming briefs.
A summary, précis or epitome; an abridgement or abstract.
A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.
A ticket of any type.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰusder. Proto-Italic *breɣʷis Latin brevisder. Old French briefbor. Old French brievebor. Middle English bref English brief From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short, brief”). Doublet of breve and merry.
To summarize a recent development to some person with decision-making power.
The U.S. president was briefed on the military coup and its implications on African stability.
To write a legal argument and submit it to a court.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰusder. Proto-Italic *breɣʷis Latin brevisder. Old French briefbor. Old French brievebor. Middle English bref English brief From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short, brief”). Doublet of breve and merry.
Briefly.
Soon; quickly.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰusder. Proto-Italic *breɣʷis Latin brevisder. Old French briefbor. Old French brievebor. Middle English bref English brief From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short, brief”). Doublet of breve and merry.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.