Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use brief in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Brief means of short duration; happening quickly. Example: “Her reign was brief but spectacular.”

Examples of brief by meaning

adjectiveOf short duration; happening quickly.

  • Her reign was brief but spectacular.
  • It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  • That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr.2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in The New York Times, archived from the...

adjectiveConcise; taking few words.

  • His speech of acceptance was brief but moving.
  • His wooing had been brief but incisive.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

adjectiveOccupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.

  • On the beach he always wore a straw hat with a red band and a brief pair of leopard print trunks.1983, Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers, Penguin, published 2009, page 17

nounAn 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

nounA short news story or report.

  • We got a news brief.

nounUnderwear briefs.

  • I wear boxer shorts under trousers but for sports I usually wear a brief.

verbTo 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.
  • It is being briefed that Southeastern operations will return to the private sector, and that use of the Operator of Last Resort team will be a temporary arrangement.2021 October 20, Industry Insider, “The wheels turn slowly”, in RAIL, number 942, page 68

More sentences with brief

  • The road took a brief detour around the large rock formation, then went straight on.From the entry around
  • The book included a brief preface explaining the author's motivations for writing.From the entry preface
  • After a brief and unsuccessful search, he decided it was time to start pounding the pavement.From the entry pound the pavement
  • Her son's letters were always telegraphically brief and to the point.From the entry telegraphically
  • The students presented a brief minidrama about the invention of the cotton gin.From the entry minidrama
  • He stripped down to a pair of see-through briefs that left nothing to the imagination.From the entry leave to the imagination
  • I penciled (BrE: pencilled) a brief reminder in my notebook.From the entry pencil
  • After a brief systemic phase defeated by the immune system, the infection localized to certain areas where it went dormant.From the entry localize
  • The boss's visit prompted a brief spurt of activity.From the entry spurt
  • The article included a brief paraphrase of the speech.From the entry paraphrase
  • I'm going to take a brief time-out from this job.From the entry time-out
  • That brief explanation will never satisfy.From the entry satisfy
  • Every spring, the passive aggressive archbishop suffered from a brief flu that dispensed him from needing to provide Easter service to the king.From the entry dispense
  • I foolishly assumed more people knew what a boymoder was when writing the brief for Leeroy's wardrobe.2026 June 21, @gooseworx.bsky.social [Gooseworx], Bluesky (post), archived from the original on 21 Jun 2026. From the entry boymoder
  • Just last week, she’d had to fix the Shatner commas in one of his briefs.2025 June 3, Renée Ahdieh, “Firebreather”, in Park Avenue: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Flatiron Books, →ISBN. From the entry Shatner comma
  • His swimsuit wasn't one of those male bikini briefs, but he certainly could wear one.2023, Judy Spoon Ertel, Any Which Aweigh You Die. From the entry bikini briefs
  • If he only stays for a brief grip-and-grin, that too will offend.2022 November 1, Polly Toynbee, “Rishi Sunak’s only been in office for a few days – and the errors are already piling up”, in The Guardian. From the entry grip-and-grin
  • Skoon’s skin concentrate understands the brief for the glowy and hoe-y hot girl summer.2022 November 25, Kimberley Schoeman, “Objects of Desire”, in Mail & Guardian. From the entry clean girl
  • A brief summary of the relevant mechanics and speedrun strategies follows for the unfamiliar reader.2020 December 15 [2020 December 11], Minecraft Speedrunning Team, “Dream Investigation Results”, in (Please provide the book title or…. From the entry speedrun
  • First Order was menacing, more so than the Empire for a brief moment.2020 May 3, “Haha”, in Reddit, r/OTMemes, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2024. From the entry cz
  • There was a brief shower of blue sparks; Harrow snatched her hand back, amazed and furious.2019 September 10, Tamsyn Muir, chapter 20, in Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb; 1), New York, N.Y.: Tor.com, published 2020, →ISBN, act 3. From the entry little nail
  • A hipster is a hybrid style somewhere between a bikini, boyshort, and brief.2018, Cora Harrington, In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie, →ISBN. From the entry boyshort
  • But his tirades have earned him a reprimand––if a brief, vague one––from his own Supreme Court nominee.2017 February 15, Peter Beinart, “American Institutions Are Fighting Back Against Trump”, in The Atlantic. From the entry fulminate
  • Arnold grabbed his trunk briefs, undershirt, and socks and looked him over again.2017, Milton Stern, Working Boys, A Midnight Murder Mystery, Part II, page 93. From the entry trunk briefs
  • In the last section, we give two brief applications on lifting biadjunctions and pseudo-Kan extensions..2016, Fernando Lucatelli Nunes, “On biadjoint triangles”, in Theory and Applications of Categories, volume 31. From the entry biadjunctions
  • Respondents brief at pp 19-22 erroneously contends that the Shapiro exclusive is supported by California law.2016, California. Court of Appeal (4th Appellate District)., page 22. From the entry misinvoke
  • Notes are brief, often in a bulletpoint format, documentation of efforts, observations, and actions.2016, Dutelle, An Introduction to Crime Scene Investigation, page 97. From the entry bulletpoint
  • After our few brief days of springy weather it surely is a sudden change.2015, Marian Baldwin, Canteening Overseas 1917-1919. From the entry springy
  • In brief, after application of the speculum and disinfection of the cervix, the hysterovideoscope was introduced intracervically.2015 December 12, “Factors Influencing the Recurrence Potential of Benign Endometrial Polyps after Hysteroscopic Polypectomy”, in PLOS…. From the entry disinfection

Meaning of brief

  1. adjective Of short duration; happening quickly.
  2. adjective Concise; taking few words.
  3. adjective Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.

Full definition of brief

Questions about brief in a sentence

How do you use brief in a sentence?
Brief is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “Her reign was brief but spectacular.”
What is a short sentence with brief?
“We got a news brief.”
What does brief mean?
Brief means of short duration; happening quickly.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brief (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use brief in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/brief. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.