Short vs. Brief

Short vs. Brief — Is There a Difference?
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Difference Between Short and Brief

Shortadjective

Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.

Briefadjective

Of short duration; happening quickly.

Her reign was brief but spectacular.

Shortadjective

(of a person) Of comparatively little height.

Briefadjective

Concise; taking few words.

His speech of acceptance was brief but moving.

Shortadjective

Having little duration; opposite of long.

Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it's been at least twenty minutes long.

Briefadjective

Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.

Her skirt was extremely brief but doubtless cool.
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Shortadjective

(followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).

“Phone” is short for “telephone” and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".

Briefadjective

(obsolete) Rife; common; prevalent.

Shortadjective

that is relatively close to the batsman.

Briefnoun

(legal) A writ summoning one to answer to any action.

Shortadjective

that bounced relatively far from the batsman.

Briefnoun

(legal) An answer to any action.

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Shortadjective

that falls short of the green or the hole.

Briefnoun

(legal) A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.

Shortadjective

(of pastries and metals) Brittle, crumbly, especially due to the use of too much shortening. See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust.

Briefnoun

A position of interest or advocacy.

Shortadjective

Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.

He gave a short answer to the question.

Briefnoun

(legal) An attorney's legal argument in written form for submission to a court.

Shortadjective

Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.

a short supply of provisions

Briefnoun

(English law) The material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who tries the case.

Shortadjective

Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking.

to be short of moneyThe cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.

Briefnoun

A short news story or report.

Shortadjective

Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.

an account which is short of the truth

Briefnoun

undershorts briefs.

I wear boxers under trousers but for sports I usually wear a brief.

Shortadjective

(obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.

Briefnoun

(obsolete) A summary, précis or epitome; an abridgement or abstract.

Shortadjective

Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.

I'm short General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.

Briefnoun

A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.

Shortadverb

Abruptly, curtly, briefly.

They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.The boss got a message and cut the meeting short.

Briefnoun

(slang) A ticket of any type.

Shortadverb

Unawares.

The recent developments at work caught them short.

Briefverb

(transitive) To summarize a recent development to some person with decision-making power.

The U.S. president was briefed on the military coup and its implications on African stability.

Shortadverb

Without achieving a goal or requirement.

His speech fell short of what was expected.

Briefverb

To write a legal argument and submit it to a court.

Shortadverb

Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.

Briefadverb

Briefly.

Shortadverb

(finance) With a negative ownership position.

We went short most finance companies in July.

Briefadverb

Soon; quickly.

Shortnoun

A short circuit.

Briefnoun

a document stating the facts and points of law of a client's case

Shortnoun

A short film.

Briefnoun

a condensed written summary or abstract

Shortnoun

Used to indicate a short-length version of a size

38 short suits fit me right off the rack.Do you have that size in a short.

Briefverb

give essential information to someone;

The reporters were briefed about the President's plan to invade

Shortnoun

(baseball) A shortstop.

Jones smashes a grounder between third and short.

Briefadjective

of short duration or distance;

a brief stay in the countryin a little whileit's a little way away

Shortnoun

(finance) A short seller.

The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.

Briefadjective

concise and succinct;

covered the matter in a brief statement

Shortnoun

(finance) A short sale.

He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.

Briefadjective

(of clothing) very short;

an abbreviated swimsuita brief bikini

Shortnoun

A summary account.

Shortnoun

(phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.

Shortnoun

(programming) An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.

Shortverb

(transitive) To cause a short circuit in (something).

Shortverb

(intransitive) Of an electrical circuit, to short circuit.

Shortverb

(transitive) To shortchange.

Shortverb

(transitive) To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.

This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.

Shortverb

To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.

Shortverb

(obsolete) To shorten.

Shortpreposition

Deficient in.

We are short a few men on the second shift.He's short common sense.

Shortpreposition

(finance) Having a negative position in.

I don't want to be short the market going into the weekend.

Shortnoun

the location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed

Shortnoun

accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference

Shortnoun

the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between 2nd and 3rd base

Shortverb

cheat someone by not returning him enough money

Shortverb

create a short-circuit in

Shortadjective

primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration;

a short lifea short flighta short holidaya short storyonly a few short months

Shortadjective

primarily spatial sense; having little length or lacking in length;

short skirtsshort hairthe board was a foot shorta short toss

Shortadjective

low in stature; not tall;

his was short and stockyshort in staturea short smokestack

Shortadjective

not sufficient to meet a need;

an inadequate incomea poor salarymoney is shorton short rationsfood is in short supplyshort on experience

Shortadjective

not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices;

a short saleshort in cotton

Shortadjective

of speech sounds (especially vowels) of relatively short duration (as e.g. the English vowel sounds in `pat', `pet', `pit', `pot', putt')

Shortadjective

containing a large amount of shortening; therefore tender and easy to crumble or break into flakes;

shortbread is a short crumbly cookiea short flaky pie crust

Shortadjective

less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so;

a light pounda scant cup of sugarregularly gives short weight

Shortadjective

used of syllables that are unaccented or of relatively brief duration

Shortadjective

(of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range;

a short memory

Shortadjective

lacking foresight or scope;

a short view of the problemshortsighted policiesshortsighted critics derided the planmyopic thinking

Shortadjective

unwilling to endure;

she was short with the slower students

Shortadjective

quickly aroused to anger;

a hotheaded commander

Shortadjective

most direct;

took the shortest and most direct route to town

Shortadjective

marked by rude or peremptory shortness;

try to cultivate a less brusque mannera curt replythe salesgirl was very short with him

Shortadverb

quickly and without warning;

he stopped suddenly

Shortadverb

without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold;

he made his fortune by selling short just before the crash

Shortadverb

clean across;

the car's axle snapped short

Shortadverb

at some point or distance before a goal is reached;

he fell short of our expectations

Shortadverb

so as to interrupt;

She took him up short before he could continue

Shortadverb

at a disadvantage;

I was caught short

Shortadverb

tightly;

she caught him up short on his lapel

Shortadverb

in a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner;

he told me curtly to get on with ithe talked short with everyonehe said shortly that he didn't like it