Short; concise; it is used chiefly of language, discourses, writings and time; as a brief space, a brief review of a book. Shakespeare applies it to wars, to nature, etc. A little brief authority is authority very limited.
Word of the Day: Catachrestical
1. An epitome; a short or concise writing. This is the general sense of the word, as explained by Zonaras on the council
2. of Carthage. It was thus used as early as the third century after Christ.
3. In modern times, an apostolical brief is a letter which the pope dispatches to a prince or other magistrate, relating to public affairs. A brief is distinguished from a bull, in being more concise, written on paper, sealed with red wax, and impressed with the seal of the fisherman or Peter in a boat. A bull is more ample, written on parchment, and sealed with lead or green wax.
4. In law, an abridgment of a client's case, made out for the instruction of council on a trial at law.
5. Also, a writ summoning a man to answer to any action; or any precept of the king in writing, issuing from any court, whereby he commands a thing to be done.
6. In Scots law, 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.
7. A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a public collection or charitable contribution of money for any public or private purpose.
8. A writing in general.
9. In music, the word, if I mistake not, is now written breve.
1. Short in duration.
3. Rife; common; prevalent.
4. A short concise writing or letter; a statement in few words.
5. An epitome.
6. 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.
1. 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.
2. A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.
Having no brief; without clients; as, a briefless barrister.
Shortness; conciseness in discourse or writing.
The quality of being brief; brevity; conciseness in discourse or writing.
Transientness Roget’s Thesaurus §111
N. transience, transientness, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, caducity, mortality, span, nine days' wonder, bubble, mayfly, spurt, flash in the pan, temporary arrangement, interregnum, velocity, suddenness, changeableness, transient, transient boarder, transient guest
V. be transient, flit, pass away, fly, gallop, vanish, fade, evaporate, pass away like a cloud, pass away like a summer cloud, pass away like a shadow, pass away like a dream
Adj. transient, transitory, transitive, passing, evanescent, fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral, flying, fugacious, fugitive, shifting, slippery, spasmodic, instantaneous, momentaneous, temporal, temporary, provisional, provisory, deciduous, perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure, impermanent, brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary, pressed for time, sudden, momentary
Adv. temporarily, pro tempore, for the moment, for a time, awhile, en passant, in transitu, in a short time, soon, briefly, at short notice, on the point of, on the eve of, in articulo, between cup and lip
Phr. one's days are numbered, the time is up, here today and gone tomorrow, non semper erit aestas, eheu, fugaces labuntur anni, sic transit gloria mundi, a schoolboy's tale, the wonder of the hour, [Byron], dum loquimur fugerit invidia aetas, fugit hora, all that is transitory is but an illusion
Shortness Roget’s Thesaurus §201
N. shortness, brevity, littleness, a span, shortening, abbreviation, abbreviature, abridgment, concision, retrenchment, curtailment, decurtation|, reduction, epitome, elision, ellipsis, conciseness, abridger, epitomist, epitomizer
V. be short, render short, shorten, curtail, abridge, abbreviate, take in, reduce, compress, epitomize, retrench, cut short, obtruncate, scrimp, cut, chop up, hack, hew, cut down, pare down, clip, dock, lop, prune, shear, shave, mow, reap, crop, snub, truncate, pollard, stunt, nip, check the growth of, foreshorten
Adj. short, brief, curt, compendious, compact, stubby, scrimp, shorn, stubbed, stumpy, thickset, pug, chunky, decurtate, retrousse, stocky, squab, squabby, squat, dumpy, little, curtailed of its fair proportions, short by, oblate, concise, summary
Adv. shortly, in short
Conciseness Roget’s Thesaurus §572
N. conciseness, brevity, "the soul of wit", laconism, tacitus, ellipsis, syncope, abridgment, compression, epitome, monostich, brunch word, portmanteau word
Adj. concise, brief, short, terse, close, to the point, exact, neat, compact, compressed, condensed, pointed, laconic, curt, pithy, trenchant, summary, pregnant, compendious, succinct, elliptical, epigrammatic, quaint, crisp, sententious
Adv. concisely, briefly, summarily, in brief, in short, in a word, in a few words, for shortness sake, to come to the point, to make a long story short, to cut the matter short, to be brief, it comes to this, the long and the short of it is
Phr. brevis esse laboro obscurus fio
Description Roget’s Thesaurus §594
N. description, account, statement, report, expose specification, particulars, state of facts, summary of facts, brief, return, catalogue raisonne, guidebook, delineation, sketch, monograph, minute account, detailed particular account, circumstantial account, graphic account, narration, recital, rehearsal, relation, historiography, chronography, historic muse, clio, history, biography, autobiography, necrology, obituary, narrative, history, memoir, memorials, annals, saga, tradition, legend, story, tale, historiette, personal narrative, journal, life, adventures, fortunes, experiences, confessions, anecdote, ana, trait, work of fiction, novel, romance, minerva press, fairy tale, nursery tale, fable, parable, apologue, dime novel, penny dreadful, shilling shocker relator, raconteur, historian, biographer, fabulist, novelist
V. describe, set forth, draw a picture, picture, portray, characterize, particularize, narrate, relate, recite, recount, sum up, run over, recapitulate, rehearse, fight one's battles over again, unfold a tale, tell, give an account of, render an account of, report, make a report, draw up a statement, detail, enter into particulars, enter into details, descend to particulars, descend to details, itemize
Adj. descriptive, graphic, narrative, epic, suggestive, well-drawn, historic, traditional, traditionary, legendary, anecdotic, storied, described
Phr. furor scribendi
Compendium Roget’s Thesaurus §596
N. compend, compendium, abstract, precis, epitome, multum in parvo, analysis, pandect, digest, sum and substance, brief, abridgment, summary, apercu, draft, minute, note, excerpt, synopsis, textbook, conspectus, outlines, syllabus, contents, heads, prospectus, album, scrap book, note book, memorandum book, commonplace book, extracts, excerpta, cuttings, fugitive pieces, fugitive writing, spicilegium, flowers, anthology, collectanea, analecta, compilation, recapitulation, resume, review, abbreviation, abbreviature, contraction, shortening, compression
V. abridge, abstract, epitomize, summarize, make an abstract, prepare an abstract, draw an abstract, compile an abstract, recapitulate, review, skim, run over, sum up, abbreviate, condense, compile
Adv. in short, in epitome, in substance, in few words
Phr. it lies in a nutshell
King James Bible KJV Bible
Berean Standard Bible BSB Bible
3 KJV and 9 BSB verses contain “brief”
“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.
And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
Now will we declare the acts of Antiochus Eupator, who was the son of this wicked man, gathering briefly the calamities of the wars.