1
: keenly alert : lively
a brisk old lady with no nonsense about her—
Jean Stafford
Jean Stafford2
a
: pleasingly tangy
brisk tea
b
: fresh, invigorating
a brisk autumn day
3
: sharp in tone or manner
was very brisk on the phone
briskly
adverb
briskness
noun
brisked; brisking; brisks
: to make animated, energetic, or marked by much activity : to make brisk
: to become brisk
—usually used with up
business brisked up
Examples of brisk in a Sentence
Adjective
She answered the phone in a brisk voice.
They went for a brisk walk in the woods.
She walked at a brisk pace.
Business is brisk at the store.
There is a brisk market in old movie posters.
Recent Examples on the Web
Michael Schneider, Variety, 12 Oct. 2025
Playing there in October, Nadal, Świątek and their foes had to reckon with brisk winds, gray skies and plummeting thermometers.
—Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2025
October 10, 2025 Exactly one year ago, on a brisk October evening, a few hundred people gathered on a stretch of sidewalk on Grand Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown, taking in a performance by the rollicking violinist Adrian Jusdanis of the band New Thousand.
—Grace Edquist, Vogue, 10 Oct. 2025
The staff is brisk, used to locals ordering with a shorthand as precise as Philly cheesesteak lingo, and the souvlaki itself is unlike anywhere else in Athens—simple, spicy, smoky, and closer to kebab than the standard style.
—Katherine Whittaker, Saveur, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brisk
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Adjective
On a brisk February evening in 2006, around a hundred people gathered in the venerable Koreatown watering hole HMS Bounty to pay their last respects to Los Angeles’ historic Ambassador Hotel.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 12 Oct. 2025
Playing there in October, Nadal, Świątek and their foes had to reckon with brisk winds, gray skies and plummeting thermometers.
—Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2025
October 10, 2025 Exactly one year ago, on a brisk October evening, a few hundred people gathered on a stretch of sidewalk on Grand Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown, taking in a performance by the rollicking violinist Adrian Jusdanis of the band New Thousand.
—Grace Edquist, Vogue, 10 Oct. 2025
The staff is brisk, used to locals ordering with a shorthand as precise as Philly cheesesteak lingo, and the souvlaki itself is unlike anywhere else in Athens—simple, spicy, smoky, and closer to kebab than the standard style.
—Katherine Whittaker, Saveur, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brisk
Cite this Entry
“Brisk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brisk. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.
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