briefly

adverb

brief·​ly ˈbrē-flē How to pronounce briefly (audio)
1
a
: in a brief way
briefly mentioned
b
: in brief
the food, briefly, was awful
2
: for a short time
briefly married

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 After her firing, Baquet (who had briefly served as the L.A. Times’ executive editor) would become the New York Times’ first Black executive editor. Julia M. Klein, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2023 Two-year Treasury yields briefly topped 5.15%, ending up 0.069 percentage point to 5.142%. WSJ, 27 Sep. 2023 In 2021, an asthma flare-up briefly put Leahy in the hospital hours after being sworn in to oversee Trump's second impeachment trial. Graham Underwood, Arkansas Online, 27 Sep. 2023 For the show's 30th season, host Jeff Probst briefly considered casting all-stars before settling on a season of new contestants. Steve Helling, Peoplemag, 27 Sep. 2023 In the video, Sokolov briefly appears on screen, but does not speak. Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 27 Sep. 2023 During World War II, the Wienermobile was briefly retired due to gas rationing. Christine Rousselle, Fox News, 26 Sep. 2023 The fire broke out around 2 p.m. and briefly halted traffic along state Route 163, before it was extinguished, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue. Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Sep. 2023 The notice was briefly removed on Thursday before reappearing again, without explanation. Rhea Mogul, CNN, 21 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'briefly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of briefly was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near briefly

Cite this Entry

“Briefly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/briefly. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.

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