Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The quality or state of being brief in duration.
- n. Concise expression; terseness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Shortness; especially, surprising or excessive curtailment of the thing spoken of: as, the brevity of human life. Specifically
- n. Shortness in speech or writing; conciseness; condensation into few words.
- n. Synonyms Compression, terseness, pithiness, succinctness, condensation, sententiousness, curtness.
Wiktionary
- n. The quality of being brief in duration.
- n. Succinctness; conciseness.
- n. A short piece of writing.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Shortness of duration; briefness of time.
- n. Contraction into few words; conciseness.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the use of brief expressions
- n. the attribute of being brief or fleeting
Etymologies
- Latin brevitās, from brevis, short; see brief.
Examples
“This brevity is also in the service of the story, the ever shrinking life of the protagonist and this in turn accomplishes a feat which wouldn't otherwise be possible in another mode of fiction.”
MIND MELD: Memorable Short Stories to Add to Your Reading List (Part 1 of 2)
“(link) A literary lesson in brevity from the kids, eh?”
“The wedding invitation, once the model of a certain kind of brevity, is now often a mere component of a thick dossier with multiple stamps.”
“In fact, maybe you should read some Shakespeare and learn that brevity is the soul of wit.”
“The father knows there is gold in brevity and wit.”
“I think brevity is sadly overrated in the blogging world.”
“The sting of brevity is made much softer by the brilliant inclusion of a fully-operational level editor.”
“Another short post, but brevity is the soul of wit.”
“If brevity is the soul of wit, then you are a master.”
“Similarly, don't give lengthy descriptions in Parts 2-5, where brevity is requested.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘brevity’.
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Academic Vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1073 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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"Brave New World"
From the book "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, which I purchased by accident.
brevity, florid, callow, sibilant, boskage, apopletic, asceptic, setentious, decant, predestine, viviparous, proliferate and 7 more...
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GRE
abase, broach, brocade, burgeon, bungle, bureaucracy, burly, burnished, browbeat, brusque, bucolic, buffoonery and 20 more...
shalaco Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing. Jul 18, 2010
mikepurvis ... is the soul of wit. Dec 17, 2006