Brief
[briːf] or [brif]
Definition
(noun.) a condensed written summary or abstract.
(noun.) a document stating the facts and points of law of a client's case.
(verb.) give essential information to someone; 'The reporters were briefed about the President's plan to invade'.
(adj.) concise and succinct; 'covered the matter in a brief statement' .
(adj.) of short duration or distance; 'a brief stay in the country' .
Editor: Lucia--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Short in duration.
(a.) Concise; terse; succinct.
(a.) Rife; common; prevalent.
(adv.) Briefly.
(adv.) Soon; quickly.
(a.) A short concise writing or letter; a statement in few words.
(a.) An epitome.
(a.) An abridgment or concise statement of a client's case, made out for the instruction of counsel in a trial at law. This word is applied also to a statement of the heads or points of a law argument.
(a.) A writ; a breve. See Breve, n., 2.
(n.) A writ issuing from the chancery, directed to any judge ordinary, commanding and authorizing that judge to call a jury to inquire into the case, and upon their verdict to pronounce sentence.
(n.) A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.
(v. t.) To make an abstract or abridgment of; to shorten; as, to brief pleadings.
Editor: Meredith
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Short, concise, succinct, compendious, laconic, CURT.[2]. Transitory, fleeting, transient, temporary, short-lived, ephemeral.
n. [1]. Epitome, compendium, summary, synopsis, syllabus, abstract, breviary, abridgment, conspectus.[2]. Pontifical letter, papal rescript.[3]. (Law.) Writ, precept.
Typed by Deirdre
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See SHORT]
Checker: Lowell
Definition
n. a short account of a client's case for the instruction of counsel: a writ: a short statement of any kind.—adj. short: concise.—adj. Brief′less.—adv. Brief′ly.—n. Brief′ness.—In brief in few words.—King's briefs royal mandates ordering collections to be made in chapels for building churches &c.; Papal brief such documents as are issued without some of the solemnities proper to bulls.—The brief and the long (Shak.) the short and the long.—To be brief to speak in a few words; To hold a brief to be retained as counsel in a case; To take a brief to undertake a case.
Edited by Fred
Examples
- He made that brief reply warmly, dropping his hand on the table while he spoke, and turning towards us again. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- They were scheming to outdo one another, to rob weaker contemporaries, to destroy rivals, so that they might for a brief interval swagger. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- There was a brief interval, they heard a door close, then Maxim said, in his refined voice: 'That's all right. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- A cursory examination of the latter revealed no mortal injuries and after a brief rest he asserted that he felt fit to attempt the return voyage. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- To be brief, their kind attention and my own excellent constitution triumphed over the fever, which had been very severe during five days. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- And I have no doubt that the time taken by the court would be enormously less, because if a judge attempts to read the bulky records and briefs, that work alone would require several days. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He has a kind of talent for drawing briefs, and stating a case in writing, plainly. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The Edison concentrating plant has been sketched in the briefest outline with a view of affording merely a bare idea of the great work of its projector. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Herein then are set forth in briefest space the preliminaries of a circuit of the globe in quest of fibre. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- I can give here only the briefest abstract of the more important facts. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- One hemisphere will have a short hot summer and a very cold winter, and the other a long cold summer and a briefer warmish winter. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Checker: Valerie