- lasting only a short time; short
- a brief visit/meeting/conversation
- Mozart's life was brief.
- He said nothing during the brief court appearance.
- a brief pause/silence
- Susan and Mary were enjoying a brief moment of solitude.
- He died after a relatively brief period of suffering.
Extra Examples- Could you make it brief? I've got a meeting in ten minutes.
- The wait was mercifully brief, little more than an hour.
- Sean gave a brief glance at the screen.
- The prime minister is due to make a brief visit to South Korea.
- There was a brief silence after I made my announcement.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- keep something
- make something
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- using few words
- a brief description/summary/overview
- Please be brief (= say what you want to say quickly).
- I will keep my comments brief.
- Section 1 of the book gives a brief history of Mexico.
- I made a brief introductory statement and our meeting began.
Extra Examples- I promised to be brief.
- The diary entries were tantalizingly brief.
- This necessarily brief account concentrates on two main areas.
- David gave me a brief summary of what was said at the meeting.
- He began with a brief introduction.
- Saunders's lawyer made a brief statement to the press outside the court.
- The author makes only a brief mention of the role of Japan in this period.
- The leaflet provides a brief description of the changes to the benefits system.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- keep something
- make something
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- (of clothes) short and not covering much of the body
- a brief skirt
see also brevity, briefly
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French brief, from Latin brevis ‘short’. The noun is via late Latin breve ‘note, dispatch’, hence ‘an official letter’.
Idioms
See brief in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee brief in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishin brief
- in a few words, without details
- In brief, the meeting was a disaster.
- Now the rest of the news in brief.
Check pronunciation:
brief