briefly

adverb

brief·​ly ˈbrē-flē 

1

a

: in a brief way

briefly mentioned

b

: in brief

the food, briefly, was awful

2

: for a short time

briefly married

Synonyms

• compactly
• concisely
• crisply
• curtly
• elliptically
• laconically
• pithily
• shortly
• succinctly
• summarily
• tersely

Examples of briefly in a Sentence

Several important issues are only briefly mentioned.

Please briefly describe your experience.

We briefly considered canceling the trip.

Recent Examples on the Web

Officials’ coach Sharp, who had briefly deputised as fourth official for the remainder of the first half, had only been present at the fixture to assist as Webb was making his Premier League debut. —Rob Tanner, New York Times, 3 May 2025

Trump and Zelensky briefly met at Pope Francis’s funeral last week. —Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 3 May 2025

Seventh Avenue remained open to traffic — with cars being held only briefly when the fighters’ cars crossed over — with orange fencing blocking the view of fans standing across the street wondering what was happening inside. —Brian Mahoney, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2025

This is the Knicks’ chance to knock off basketball royalty, and make Celtics vs. Knicks a real rivalry for the first time in 50 years, back when the Knicks — briefly — were royalty in the NBA in the early ’70s. —Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 2 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for briefly

• chiefly