in brief

In summary; to say it briefly. The film was, in brief, dull. If you can, please explain it in brief.

briefly; concisely. The whole story, in brief, is that Bob failed algebra because he did not study. Please tell me in brief why you want this job.

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.

COMMON If someone says or writes something in brief, they use as few words as possible and do not give many details. This in brief is how I see the situation at the moment. The disease is discussed in brief here.

In short.