briefing

Pluralbriefings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A meeting held to give a short summary of the current situation, especially just before an operation or task begins.

   The pilots attended a briefing an hour before takeoff.

   Before the raid, officers sat through a detailed briefing on the building's layout.

   Oppositedebriefing

   Note

   Here the summary becomes an occasion with an audience, and the audience is usually named: a briefing of the press, or journalists summoned for an off-the-record briefing, as Guillem Balagué wrote in 2021. Off-the-record sets the terms on which the information may be used. Where the summary itself is something you read or receive, this sense is something you hold, attend or are called to.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A short, clear summary of a current situation, set out for quick reading.

   The analyst prepared a briefing outlining the key risks for the board.

   The president's daily briefing summarized overnight developments around the world.

   Similarsummary, rundown, digest, overview, report

3. 3
   verb

   Present participle of brief.

   The director spent the morning briefing investors on the merger.

   She is briefing the committee about the proposed budget.

   Note

   The verb is transitive, and its object is the person informed rather than the information: you are briefing the committee or briefing investors, with on or about introducing the subject. In law it has a second use, writing a legal argument and submitting it to a court. The same spelling also names the summary itself and the meeting.

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