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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The agency has also had to send teams to the Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, and South Ukraine nuclear plants, which suffered loss of power from Russian attacks, briefly affecting reactor cooling systems. Scott Montgomery, Forbes.com, 10 June 2025 The red flag was waved and the race was briefly put on hold as emergency crews worked to clean up the wreck and make sure each driver involved got off the track. Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 8 June 2025 This is his second spell as manager after Al Ittihad briefly lured him away to work in the Saudi Pro League. James Horncastle, New York Times, 8 June 2025 The training staff briefly went to check on the right-handed pitcher. Lamond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 8 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for briefly

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

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Cite this Entry

“Briefly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/briefly. Accessed 16 Jun. 2025.

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