in brief

Idioms and Phrases

Also, in short ; in a word . Concisely, in few words, to sum up. All three phrases usually precede or follow a summary statement, as in In brief, we didn't get much out of his speech , or There was no agenda; in short, they could discuss whatever they wanted to , or The sun was shining, the sky was clear—in a word, it was a beautiful day . The first expression dates from the early 1400s; in short dates from the 1300s but the present usage dates from the 1700s; the hyperbolic in a word (since there is nearly always more than one word) dates from the late 1500s.