briefly
- 1For a brief period of time; lasting or happening for only a short while.
She lived briefly in Chicago before moving to Seattle.
The power went out briefly during the storm last night.
Similarmomentarily, temporarily, fleetingly
Oppositepermanently, indefinitely
Note
Time is the measure here: the word says how long something lasted, not how compactly it was put. It often pairs with only to stress how little (he only worked here briefly), and it sits naturally before the verb it limits. Maya Salam, writing on Squid Game: The Challenge in 2023, has one contestant briefly believe he'd been eliminated by his friend. Unlike the manner sense, it can describe events with no words in them at all.
- 2In a brief manner, using few words and without going into detail; summarily.
The report briefly outlines the main findings, leaving the details to the appendix.
She briefly described her plan, hitting only the key steps, then took questions.
Similarconcisely, succinctly, summarily, tersely
Oppositefully, extensively
Note
Here the shortness lies in the telling, not the clock: to cover a subject briefly is to compress it, keeping the outline and dropping the detail. The word goes back to Middle English breefly or brevely, simply brief plus -ly, and compares with more and most (more briefly, most briefly). With verbs of speaking, spoke briefly can mean few words or a short stretch of time, and only context decides.
- 3To be brief; in short, used to introduce a condensed statement of the main point.
Briefly, the merger collapsed because neither side would budge on price.
The situation, briefly, is that we are out of money and nearly out of time.
Similarbasically, essentially
Note
A sentence adverb that comments on the speaker's own telling. It stands at the front or is set off by commas, and it promises the short version: Briefly, I am not happy about what happened. Position separates it from the manner sense. Attach it to a verb inside the clause and it describes how something was said, rather than how you are saying it now.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English breefly (also breffly, brevely), equivalent to "brief" plus the suffix "-ly".