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Definition of brief verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

brief

verb
 
/briːf/
 
/briːf/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they brief
 
/briːf/
 
/briːf/
he / she / it briefs
 
/briːfs/
 
/briːfs/
past simple briefed
 
/briːft/
 
/briːft/
past participle briefed
 
/briːft/
 
/briːft/
-ing form briefing
 
/ˈbriːfɪŋ/
 
/ˈbriːfɪŋ/
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  1. to give somebody information about something so that they are prepared to deal with it
    • brief somebody I expect to be kept fully briefed at all times.
    • brief somebody on/about something The officer briefed her on what to expect.
    • Each member of my crew took it in turn to brief me on his particular duties.
    • We have all been fully briefed about the mission.
    compare debrief
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • fully
    • properly
    • well
    preposition
    • about
    • on
    See full entry
  2. brief somebody (to do something) (British English, law) to give a lawyer, especially a barrister, the main facts of a legal case so that it can be argued in courtTopics Law and justicec2
  3. Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French brief, from Latin brevis ‘short’. The noun is via late Latin breve ‘note, dispatch’, hence ‘an official letter’.
See brief in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee brief in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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