# briefly

Pronunciation: say "BREEF-lee" /ˈbɹiːfli/

## Adverb

1. For a brief period of time; lasting or happening for only a short while.
   - Simple: For a short time, not for very long.
   - _She lived briefly in Chicago before moving to Seattle._
   - _The power went out briefly during the storm last night._
2. In a brief manner, using few words and without going into detail; summarily.
   - Simple: In a way that uses only a few words and skips the details.
   - _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._
3. To be brief; in short, used to introduce a condensed statement of the main point.
   - Simple: Used to start a short version of what you want to say.
   - _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._

## Origin

From Middle English breefly (also breffly, brevely), equivalent to "brief" plus the suffix "-ly".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/briefly (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).