as in to interrogate
to officially ask (someone) about a job that has been done or about an experience
Police debriefed the hostages upon their return. The pilot was debriefed after his flight.
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Recent Examples of debrief
Roseman will debrief the draft process.
—
Zach Berman, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026
Fox said Williams was debriefed in September 2015 and signed a nondisclosure agreement.
—Allen G. Breed, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2026
Shortly thereafter, Dowd found herself inside the FBI’s resident agency in Brevard County, where she was debriefed by a special agent.
—Adam Ciralsky, Vanity Fair, 19 Mar. 2026
Chapman, who worked long hours debriefing Marquez over the years and shepherded his grand jury testimony, grew emotional while talking about Marquez’s qualities as a wonky engineer who could talk endlessly about the inner workings of the ComEd’s electrical grid.
—Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 19 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for debrief
Zach Berman, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026
Fox said Williams was debriefed in September 2015 and signed a nondisclosure agreement.
—Allen G. Breed, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2026
Shortly thereafter, Dowd found herself inside the FBI’s resident agency in Brevard County, where she was debriefed by a special agent.
—Adam Ciralsky, Vanity Fair, 19 Mar. 2026
Chapman, who worked long hours debriefing Marquez over the years and shepherded his grand jury testimony, grew emotional while talking about Marquez’s qualities as a wonky engineer who could talk endlessly about the inner workings of the ComEd’s electrical grid.
—Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 19 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for debrief
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debrief
Verb
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If unethical actors can deploy custom frontier AI models to aggressively interrogate smart contracts and find hidden protocol flaws, human-only defensive audits will be rendered obsolete.—
Sean Stein Smith,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
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New York police executing a search warrant raided an LGBTQ+ bar called the Stonewall Inn, and some of the patrons resisted as officers continued interrogating them and bar employees.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
17 June 2026
Verb
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For generations, those rules have been questioned and debated but rarely tested – until now.—
Rhea Mogul,
CNN Money,
21 June 2026
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Leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services applauded the FTC’s move, pointing to an HHS review that questioned WPATH standards.—
Devi Shastri,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2026
Verb
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The horse was last examined by the NYPD Mounted Unit's veterinarian in March and was found fit for work, according to the union.—
Thao Nguyen,
USA Today,
18 June 2026
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In addition to studying race and gender demographics in the film industry, the report also examined on-camera representations of disability.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
17 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Debrief.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debrief. Accessed 22 Jun. 2026.
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