briefs

/bɹiːfs/

briefs is the plural of brief.

briefs is the third-person singular simple present indicative of brief.

Noun

briefs pl (plural only, attributive brief)

(plural, plural-only) A very short, close-fitting type of underpants.
- [S]he learned not to iron my footy briefs and leave creases in them - the blokes bagged my creases for weeks[.]1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 124
- Briefs for men and women were not popular in America until the 1930s.2008, Dan Peek, Why Do They Dress That Way?: People’s Place Book No. 7, page 80
(plural, plural-only) Swimming briefs.
- I fetched my briefs, pulled them on, and we left the changing room.2012, Luis Algorri, You’ll Hear From Me: A Gay Story about Passion and Love
(Australia, informal, plural, plural-only) Male underpant bikini briefs.
- Galvanised, I jumped--the clatter of keys rang clear as I thrust the knife, handle down, into the back of my briefs.2012, Joe Tog, Aussie Prison Breaks: Not All Escapees Are Desperados
(euphemistic, plural, plural-only) An adult diaper.

brief (plural briefs)

A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
1. A short papal letter.
  - It was in vain that the bishop published a new papal brief, declaring valid the excommunications which he had issued, and those of the inquisitors to be null, and requiring them to seek absolution from him.1891 August, Henry Charles Lea, “A Colonial Inquisitor”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2026
An answer to any action.
- A written answer or any other brief shall be submitted to the court while allowing a period necessary for the opponent to make preparations with regard to the matters stated therein.1996, Japanese Rules of Civil Procedure, Article 79, Section 1
A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.
(broadly, figuratively) A position of interest or advocacy.
- Mrs. Hope was, we believe, a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and neither she nor her editor conceals the fact that they hold a brief for the Pope and for Catharine against Henry VIII.1894 August 18, “The First Divorce of Henry VIII [book review]”, in The Speaker, volume 10, page 192
An attorney's legal argument in written form for submission to a court.

attributive	brief

What does briefs mean?: Briefs means a very short, close-fitting type of underpants.
What is briefs the plural of?: Briefs is the plural of brief.
What part of speech is briefs?: Briefs is a noun.
How do you pronounce briefs?: Briefs is pronounced /bɹiːfs/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: briefs (page history and authors); brief (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-briefs.wav.

Cite this entry: “briefs.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/briefs. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.