debrief

verb

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de·brief | \ (ˌ)dē-ˈbrēf

debriefed; debriefing; debriefs

Definition of debrief

transitive verb

1 : to interrogate (someone, such as a pilot) usually upon return (as from a mission) in order to obtain useful information The hostages were later debriefed by police.

2 : to carefully review upon completion debrief the flight

intransitive verb

: to be interrogated for useful information following a mission, experience, etc. : to be debriefed After each mission, … the pilots land, disarm and roll into the fuel pit. They spend another hour debriefing with Intelligence …— Maria Wilhelm

Examples of debrief in a Sentence

Police debriefed the hostages upon their return. The pilot was debriefed after his flight.

Recent Examples on the Web Leadership should debrief and learn from this to clarify what worked and what didn’t. — Expert Panel®, Forbes, 9 June 2022 An hour and twenty minutes later, the three of us trooped back into the office to debrief. — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 16 May 2022 One of his favorite stories involved a 1978 assignment to protect and debrief a Soviet defector, Arkady N. Schevchenko, moving him undercover from his apartment in New York to the Virginia suburbs. — New York Times, 19 Feb. 2022 The battalion stopped in Texas for a week to debrief, spending one week there before finally arriving in Arizona, according to a senior service member. — Adam Terro, The Arizona Republic, 19 Feb. 2022 The best CEOs reach out ahead of board meetings to discuss the upcoming agenda and follow up after to debrief to discuss additional insights. — Sean Cantwell, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2021 Afterward, over Zoom, Callan asked the group to debrief the session. — Adam Iscoe, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2021 After all is said and done with the music video, the Bassett family takes themselves from the parking lot back to their Potomac house so that Chris can take off his apron and Candiace can debrief with Dot. — Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2021 The trio will meet the Pride in Tacoma, Washington, on Thursday, where Burleigh will assess their health and debrief them on the last two weeks. — Julia Poe, orlandosentinel.com, 22 Sep. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'debrief.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.