Brief vs Debrief

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Brief vs Debrief

In the English language, some words are connected to prefixes to make them the opposite of the original word. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, when supposedly prefixes are attached to a word, the meaning of the new word is completely different and probably far from the original. An example would be the words brief and debrief. Though they look as if one word is just a deviation of the other, their meanings are actually quite different.

Brief can be used in various ways precisely because it could be a noun, an adjective, or even a verb. As a noun, the word brief could be used to call a set of documents, particularly legal documents. This is why people call the bags of lawyers “brief case”, but of course, this is not anymore exclusive to lawyers.

Nowadays, the word brief is used to call any type of important document, regardless of industry. As an adjective, brief means short, the exact opposite of long. As a verb, to brief is the process of providing information to someone.

Debrief, on the other hand, is limited to being a verb. To debrief is gather information or intelligence through a set of questions, and these questions are asked in a certain way such as in an interview.

It is usually used for interrogation, just as how suspects are interrogated by the government. It was usually used as a term to interrogate spies that have been captured by the military of a certain government.

An example of how it is used with regard to military-related incidents is as follows: “The pilot was debriefed upon capture.” This is not the case now. Nowadays, it could be used loosely, even for the most innocent and simple interviews, and is not anymore exclusive to military-related incidents.