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brief
in a sentence
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  • She never sees our team play. Instead, she watches the team we will play next week and then briefs our coach about their strengths and weaknesses.
    briefs = gives a summary of important information
  • The men would gather at the truck to be briefed on what had been hit during their break, what was most likely to be hit next, and who was working with whom.   (source)
    briefed = given a summary of important information
  • They were not allowed to see me but were briefed by doctors and met my father.   (source)
  • When I mentioned various aircraft he'd flown, the aircraft Dad had briefed me about, he grinned again and said, "Heck, I do believe we got an aviation expert on our hands."   (source)
    briefed = given a summary of important information (to)
  • At a briefing, the crews were told to approach Nauru at eight thousand feet.   (source)
    briefing = meeting to give a summary of important information
  • Ask the generals to brief you.   (source)
    brief = give a summary of important information to
  • The briefing seemed to take forever, but the time finally came.   (source)
    briefing = giving a summary of important information
  • So I'll keep the news brief.   (source)
    brief = summary of important information
  • I went up to see their commander and brief him on what had happened.   (source)
    brief = give a summary of important information to
  • After being briefed on the circumstances of this case, Mr. Driscoll was supplied with photographs, fingerprints and warrants for Hickock and Smith.   (source)
    briefed = given a summary of important information
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show 89 more with this conextual meaning
  • The Working Committee urged me to go down to Durban and brief the chief.   (source)
    brief = give a summary of important information to
  • McBride had to be back in the office for a press briefing on the investigation.   (source)
    briefing = giving a summary of important information
  • No more briefs.   (source)
    briefs = summaries of important information
  • Fache's briefing of his agents an hour ago had been unusually succinct and assured.†   (source)
  • "Very well," said Mr. Curtain, when he saw that the boys understood, "you have been sufficiently briefed.†   (source)
  • When Stargirl came in that day after school, Kevin gave her the usual briefing while Mr. Robineau and I checked out the equipment.†   (source)
  • It was time for Colonel Vosch's briefing.†   (source)
  • The briefing had already started.†   (source)
  • Each fresh arrival was briefed in this way; people—police, doctor, family members, servants—stood in knots that unraveled and reformed in corners of rooms, the hallway and the terrace outside the French windows.†   (source)
  • You've all been briefed on the Flare and the reasons for the Trials.†   (source)
  • He should have been briefing for the [DME] step-downs," Brenner went on.†   (source)
  • Silvia was there, which sometimes happened when we had to discuss something she'd briefed us on, and today she was beside herself.†   (source)
  • You will be briefed on the details later.†   (source)
  • Butler and Juliet nodded, as though this were a normal briefing.†   (source)
  • I was told there was an assembly at Central with the military briefing the students.†   (source)
  • Shipmaster Singh and Councilor Halmyn had briefed us on the so-called Separatists of Maui-Covenant.†   (source)
  • I saw one of you nodding off, right here in the middle of the captain's briefing.†   (source)
  • We have been warned about that in briefings, along with frostbite, wind, whiteouts, wind, intense cold, and finally, wind.†   (source)
  • Your officers have all been briefed, but it's up to you guys to do the job.†   (source)
  • His men had briefed him about the pots and pans.†   (source)
  • You can assure Father I'm very well briefed indeed.†   (source)
  • Clarisse and Annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing.†   (source)
  • Not for a briefing.†   (source)
  • The three squads of Third Platoon were briefed on the top deck by a First Lieutenant Pavelman from San Antonio, who explained in detail the role of B Company in the larger scheme of things.†   (source)
  • I knew from Amahl's briefing that Tabriz was at least 300 miles away and from there it was another hundred miles or so to the border.†   (source)
  • Lieutenant Colonel Johnson gave her a short briefing on procedures and then helped her lower the helmet over her head.†   (source)
  • A jovial middle-aged woman briefed us on the dos and don'ts of outfits for job interviews, then asked for volunteers.†   (source)
  • Damned nice briefing.†   (source)
  • It occurred to Eragon then, as he reviewed Nasuada's briefing, that one of Murtagh's greatest weaknesses was that he still had to sleep.†   (source)
  • Of course Clyde had been briefed on Tanya Berenger.†   (source)
  • Commander Olson briefed us in just a few minutes.†   (source)
  • He helps prep the Chairman's daily briefing.†   (source)
  • Kevin asked when they entered the briefing room.†   (source)
  • Jennifer briefed him on her conversation with Clancy Edwards.†   (source)
  • We also had to go into the Ministry of Culture to be briefed by the officials.†   (source)
  • How come we never hear about this stuff in the news or our briefings?†   (source)
  • But briefings got old; there wasn't much news, and by now the other corpsmen knew their procedures.†   (source)
  • I'll conduct the briefing.'†   (source)
  • They had been carefully briefed about how to behave if someone fired at them or threw stones, but they had received no directives about what to do when someone aimed a lens.†   (source)
  • "Clare's got a briefing in the City.†   (source)
  • You're briefing them, right?†   (source)
  • Do you know what he was doing yesterday when I briefed him on his testimony?†   (source)
  • The lawyers were gathering for the morning's pregame briefing.†   (source)
  • With the two men briefed, he shared the plan with the players.†   (source)
  • And any citizen can travel to one of the provincial palaces and ask for an audience—for a request, for an appeal in a legal case, for whatever reason— but in such a case, an ordinary citizen is briefed beforehand on how to conduct herself.†   (source)
  • He began the formal briefing, talking rapidly, pacing up and down the room, hands moving constantly.†   (source)
  • Eve was still gritting her teeth over her briefing with Whitney when she ran headlong into DeBlass's security outside his office in the New Senate Office Building, East Washington.†   (source)
  • If you like, we can postpone the briefing for a few hours so you can rest, calm down.†   (source)
  • Ekström got a briefing from the criminal duty officer about the events in Enskede, and at once concluded that this was a case which would without a doubt create a stir in the media.†   (source)
  • Just sign this paper that I briefed you in this little snafu.†   (source)
  • Mr. McDaniels, please indicate that you have been fully briefed and agree to participate in the following trials with full knowledge that they are highly experimental and likely to result in severe disfigurement….†   (source)
  • Of course, everyone on the team had been briefed on what to do if we got messages like that, received intimidating or threatening mail, or were confronted in any way that seemed to jeopardize our safety or that of our families, friends, teammates, or coaches.†   (source)
  • Even though Bobby hasn't had a CIA briefing on the Cuban operation in three months, he is the one man the president believes he can count on.†   (source)
  • Captain Ono had briefed me fully.†   (source)
  • The spokesman from Bryn Shander shut the door behind the last of them, desiring a private briefing with the principle character of the first stages of his plan.†   (source)
  • Clayton was briefed on policies, warned of bad apples, encouraged to start cell system while leaving old organization untouched.†   (source)
  • One two-person team of briefers called themselves Abdul and Abdul.†   (source)
  • Then, when there was no immediate response: "I suppose Bessie's been briefing you by the hour.†   (source)
  • "You got that part of the briefing?" the AF COS said.†   (source)
  • After a long silence, during which he toyed portentously with some of his skulls, my chief began his briefing.†   (source)
  • GUIL: We have been briefed.†   (source)
  • I'm going to give you a complete briefing.†   (source)
  • In no city did these two briefings coincide.†   (source)
  • "Now in here," their guide, sweating dark tentacles into his tab collar, briefed them, "you are going to see the members of the third sex, the lavender crowd this city by the Bay is so justly famous for.†   (source)
  • Before I left, I was briefed, instructed, directed, and brain-washed by many of my friends.†   (source)
  • The conversations that Ferdinand, in this character, attempted with me had a serial quality, because he wasn't always well briefed.†   (source)
  • Only one detachment has been briefed.†   (source)
  • But this was at the final briefing, half an hour before we sailed.†   (source)
  • It was midway through the morning and we'd been in yet another Culture Briefing.†   (source)
  • Captain Rocher will be briefing the corps in two minutes.†   (source)
  • And as the various briefings went on, Ben Sharmak seemed to get progressively more important.†   (source)
  • There were things he hadn't been briefed on, he realized.†   (source)
  • The gas masks, the uniforms, the "briefing" in the barracks.†   (source)
  • I have been instructed to escort you this far and return for briefing on another matter.†   (source)
  • Hendriks briefed me for it, among other things.†   (source)
  • At first Chartrand thought the briefing was some sort of bizarre training exercise.†   (source)
  • Briefing by Colonel Vosch in five minutes.†   (source)
  • We briefed them and wandered, a bit apprehensively, over to the chow hall for lunch.†   (source)
  • Dart thought back to his briefing at Ashgrove.†   (source)
  • Right after the briefing, Chief Dan Healy said to me, quietly, "This is it, Marcus.†   (source)
  • "Why don't you go get Crisco for us so the colonel can start our briefing?"†   (source)
  • And I walked out of the briefing room and headed back to our quarters with a lot on my mind.†   (source)
  • You'll get an intensive briefing beginning this afternoon at 1500 hours," Nicholson said.†   (source)
  • There would be just one final briefing from Reno before we attacked BUD/ S first phase.†   (source)
  • Actually, I'd already briefed him, early this morning.†   (source)
  • "I didn't get the briefing, and I'm pretty sure the information wasn't covered in Frank's pamphlet.†   (source)
  • They landed and led him into a briefing room two hours later.†   (source)
  • I only stopped to be briefed by one of the guards heading up the process.†   (source)
  • Frank ate while Grandmother gave him a sort of military briefing.†   (source)
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show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • Her brief stresses that a guilty verdict would be incompatible with the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech.
    brief = summary of important facts and opinion for a legal case
  • With the reconsideration denied, the appeal brief was due in twenty-eight days.   (source)
  • At work, for example, when he would staple "FYI--For Your Information" notes to legal briefs and corporate returns that I had to review, he signed them at the bottom: "FYI--Forever You & I."   (source)
    briefs = summaries of important facts and opinions
  • She rearranged her docket so that she was home when Josie got there; she left legal briefs in the office instead of bringing them home to read on weekends; every night, over dinner, they talked-not just chatter, but real conversation: about why To Kill a Mockingbird might very well be the best book ever written; about how you could tell if you'd fallen in love; even about Josie's father.   (source)
    briefs = summaries of important facts and opinions regarding a legal case
  • I could now spend the day reading, writing letters, discussing issues with my comrades, or formulating legal briefs.   (source)
    briefs = summary of important facts for a legal case
  • With a sigh, she shifted a tower of briefs aside.   (source)
    briefs = summaries of important facts -- especially opinions regarding a legal case
  • It's hardly a legal brief; there's a lot of speculation, rumor, and secondhand information.   (source)
    legal brief = a legal summary of facts and opinion concerning a judicial court case
  • After filing the appeal brief, I'd continued investigating the case intensively.   (source)
    brief = summary of important facts and opinion for a legal case
  • He wanted to appeal no matter how unlikely the prospects, but his lawyer filed no brief.   (source)
  • When we filed our brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, national organizations joined us and filed amicus briefs urging the Court to rule in our favor.   (source)
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  • I'd filed a lengthy brief that documented the insufficiency of the evidence and raised every legal deficiency in the trial that I could identify.   (source)
  • They are "the products of an environment over which they have no real control—passengers through narrow pathways in a world they never made," as we wrote in our brief.   (source)
  • Another brief was filed on behalf of former child soldiers whose terrifying behavior after being forced into violent African militias made the crimes of our clients seem much less aggravated by comparison.   (source)
  • Despite numerous potentially meritorious grounds for appeal, Joe's appointed appellate counsel filed an Anders brief—indicating his belief that there were no legitimate grounds for appeal and no credible basis to complain about the conviction or sentence—and was permitted to withdraw from representing Joe.   (source)
    brief = summary of important facts for a legal case
  • When we filed our brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, national organizations joined us and filed amicus briefs urging the Court to rule in our favor.   (source)
    briefs = summaries of important facts and opinions regarding a legal case
  • In November 2009, after the briefs were filed in Joe's case and the Graham case, I went to Washington for my third U.S. Supreme Court oral argument.   (source)
    briefs = summaries of important facts -- especially opinions regarding a legal case
  • He paused and then said he wanted the parties to submit written briefs arguing what ruling he should make.   (source)
    briefs = summaries of important facts and opinions regarding a legal case
  • I told prison officials that in order to prepare adequately, I would need to be exempt from going to the quarry and would also require a proper table, chair, and reading light to work on my brief.   (source)
    brief = summary of important facts for a legal case
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show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • I suppose his brief burst of fame brought on a briefer burst of industry, but his job lasted only as long as his notoriety: Mr. Ewell found himself as forgotten as Tom Robinson.†   (source)
  • There had to be some much briefer, and simpler, way to thank Hobie and say what I had to say: namely, that he shouldn't feel bad, he'd always been good to me and done his best to help me, just as my mother and I had done our best to help this baby pit bull, who—it was actually a pertinent point, only I didn't want to spin the story out too long—for all her sweet-tempered qualities had been incredibly destructive in the days leading to her death, she'd pretty much destroyed the whole…†   (source)
  • He still had his bursts of unbridled, adrenaline-pumped energy, as he did on the day of the first snowfall, but they were briefer now and farther apart.†   (source)
  • I have brief visions of the bull hook flying at my head and then even briefer visions of getting up right now, this minute, and walking back to the hobo camp.†   (source)
  • On the day after Shade Buckheath and Gideon Himes had come to their agreement, she stopped at the hospital for a briefer stay than usual.†   (source)
  • Her responses, while not curt, were much briefer than any of us were used to, so much so that weird silences kept falling after she spoke, while the rest of us waited for her to start up again.†   (source)
  • The briefer, the sooner shall you be refreshed.†   (source)
  • It was just a flicker, even briefer than the first.†   (source)
  • Being a lord was not so tedious as he had feared, and since Lady Hornwood had been so much briefer than Lord Manderly, he even had a few hours of daylight left to visit with Summer.†   (source)
  • When they met each other there at the camp the encounter was even briefer and less personal than their meeting in Cracow.†   (source)
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  • Gollum in his own way, and with much more excuse as his acquaintance was much briefer, may have _made a similar mistake, confusing kindness and blindness.†   (source)
  • All through the bright autumn days, Laurella Himes had hurried from one new and charming sensation or discovery to another; she was like the butterflies that haunt the banks of little streams or wayside pools at this season, disporting themselves more gaily even than the insects of spring in what must be at best a briefer glory.†   (source)
  • They were now briefer than epitaphs and more terse than commands.†   (source)
  • His visits morning and evening were briefer, his tongue more benevolent.†   (source)
  • Brief were my days among you, and briefer still the words I have spoken.†   (source)
  • He made this a briefer story, telling of his coming to Utah, his various occupations till he became a rider, and then how the Mormons had practically driven him out of Cottonwoods, an outcast.†   (source)
  • It could hardly have been briefer.†   (source)
  • "And a briefer stay!" she replied, as, with a strong push, the black sent them shooting into the open water again.†   (source)
  • Some of the briefer articles, which contribute to make up the volume, have likewise been written since my involuntary withdrawal from the toils and honours of public life, and the remainder are gleaned from annuals and magazines, of such antique date, that they have gone round the circle, and come back to novelty again.†   (source)
  • Others, whose briefer span forbade their devoting themselves to studies so abstruse, beguiled the little tedium of the way with penny-papers.†   (source)
  • There, in keeping of his Arab followers, he left the horse, and shortly after was at the wicket of his father's house, and in a yet briefer space in the great chamber.†   (source)
  • Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fibre in those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding than in their fair descendants, separated from them by a series of six or seven generations; for, throughout that chain of ancestry, every successive mother had transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame, if not character of less force and solidity than her own.†   (source)
  • The grammar-book is Longman's Briefer Grammar; New York, 1908, p. 160.†   (source)
  • For example, there is "Longmans' Briefer Grammar," by George J. Smith,[9] a text now in very wide use.†   (source)
  • Madam, before you touch the instrument, To learn the order of my fingering, I must begin with rudiments of art; To teach you gamut in a briefer sort, More pleasant, pithy, and effectual, Than hath been taught by any of my trade: And there it is in writing, fairly drawn.†   (source)
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show 10 examples with meaning too common or rare to warrant focus
  • Andrews, I know this is difficult for you, so I'll be as brief as possible.   (source)
    brief = of short duration
  • I tried to distract myself by reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, which answered big questions such as how the universe began and whether time could run backward.   (source)
  • The officer paused for a brief coughing spell.   (source)
  • I asked for a brief recess to try and calm Herbert down.   (source)
  • In the brief tug-of-war, my crab lost a limb.   (source)
  • They showed a brief picture of me and then the killer.   (source)
  • It was a brief conversation.   (source)
  • Dick stripped to his briefs was not quite the same as Dick fully clothed.   (source)
    briefs = underwear
  • For others, a brief groping might trigger it.   (source)
    brief = of short duration
  • The prison doctor came by to give me a brief checkup.   (source)
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show 40 more examples with meaning too common or rare to warrant focus
  • He is down to his briefs.   (source)
    briefs = underwear
  • In the team room, the guys made us introduce ourselves and give them a brief bio.   (source)
    brief = of short duration
  • Word of her mother had also been tight-lipped on Frau Heinrich's brief visits.†   (source)
  • It seemed like forever ago, like we'd had this brief but still infinite forever.†   (source)
  • Karim and the Afghan soldier had a brief exchange in Pashtu.†   (source)
  • A boy, I think from District 9, reaches the pack at the same time I do and for a brief time we grapple for it and then he coughs, splattering my face with blood.†   (source)
  • Dad had brought Mom to Welch for a brief visit fifteen years earlier, right after they were married.†   (source)
  • This is also different—because during that brief time they knew each other, Lev had never been pleased by Connor's presence.†   (source)
  • No one knew for sure if, in that brief time, the bomber could get far enough away to survive what was coming.†   (source)
  • He gathered his strength and for a brief second seemed to defy gravity as he took a quick step up the wall and, with Zero's help, pulled himself the rest of the way over the ledge.†   (source)
  • From our brief conversation I deduced that I had just met the celebrated eccentric whom the locals called the Mayor of Hippie Cove, a reference to a bight of tidewater north of town that was a magnet for long-haired transients, near which the Mayor had been living for some years.†   (source)
  • The world will give you that once in a while, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.†   (source)
  • For that brief time, his eyes looked just like hers.†   (source)
  • When the driver and vehicle arrived, The Giver would send the driver on some brief errand.†   (source)
  • For a brief time the press made much of Brian and he was interviewed for several networks but the furor died within a few months.†   (source)
  • I'll be as brief as possible.†   (source)
  • I carry no brief, for better or for worse.†   (source)
  • The pain was brief and hot and unquestionably real.†   (source)
  • At night we slept with the windows wide open, and in our dreams we could hear singing and laughter and the endless turning of the leaves in the wind and in the morning, when we woke, for one brief moment we could almost forget we had ever been away.†   (source)
  • There's this very brief moment of recognition between us, like I know you.†   (source)
  • He and Einstein had only one very brief conversation.†   (source)
  • My usual stream of messages, after a brief flood of concerned e-mails from friends, had stopped as well.†   (source)
  • Comrade Propp personally communicated his relief to the Count during a brief meeting on the morning of the event.†   (source)
  • During one of our many trips to Kentucky, Mamaw was trying to merge onto the highway after a brief stop for gas.†   (source)
  • There is the usual nodding of heads, raising of eyes, occasional brief smiles.†   (source)
  • A brief silence descended and Johann thought the time had come.†   (source)
  • Thomas started, for a brief moment worried that Newt could tell what was going on.†   (source)
  • The map was leading me in directions I hadn't seen in my brief time at the school, through bushes and brush that quickly turned to trees and forests.†   (source)
  • A brief pause.†   (source)
  • For a brief moment, Richard Parker was hesitating.†   (source)
  • The garden looked distressingly poor, even with all the watering I had done and the brief rain.†   (source)
  • THE FUNERAL WAS small and brief.†   (source)
  • Fache set it back in the box and gazed absently out the jet's window at the hangar, pondering his brief conversation with Sophie, as well as the information he'd received from PTS in Château Villette.†   (source)
  • The king appeared and gave a brief update on the war.†   (source)
  • The day was brief, hardly a day at all.†   (source)
  • There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control.†   (source)
  • It is because, in the brief moments that I have loved it here, I saw a faction worth saving.†   (source)
  • Mr. Poe took Count Olaf's arm and, after a brief eruption of coughs, announced in a harsh voice, "I hereby arrest you in the name of the law."†   (source)
  • The two young men look at each other for a brief instant; then OSVALDO turns away.†   (source)
  • There was a brief pause.†   (source)
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