can a detailed thing be brief? (2024)

detailed means having many details

brief means short

So how come are they antonyms?

what if something is short even after providing all the details(nothing is omitted) ? would we call it detailed or brief? (it totally depends on the topic)

stewie_gilligan_griffin said:

detailed means having many details

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Since when

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2018
de•tailed (di tāld′, dē′tāld), adj.

1. having many details:a detailed problem.
2. thorough in the treatment of details; minute:a detailed report.

You cannot cherry-pick one meaning when many definitions exist.

For example

"I have a flat tire because it was punctured by a nail I drove over."

How many more details do you need?

stewie_gilligan_griffin said:

google still list brief and detailed as antonyms?

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As we frequently remind learners, Google is not a dictionary. It indexes everything.
"Detailed" and "brief" can be antonyms in an appropriate context.

stewie_gilligan_griffin said:

even oxford and several other dictionaries list them as antonyms

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Please remember to begin sentences and proper nouns, such as Oxford, with a capital letter.

Every definition everywhere requires an appropriate context.

This seems to be like a discussion on "If empty and full are antonyms, why aren't half-empty and half-full antonyms as well?"

stewie_gilligan_griffin said:

even oxford and several other dictionaries list them as antonyms

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That does not mean they are ALWAYS antonyms. As sdg says, context is required to know which meaning of each word is being used before selecting an appropriate word as antonym.

Brief means short

and brief also means not detailed.

when the context has all the details

but still short

definition #1 applies here.

stewie_gilligan_griffin said:

Brief means short

and brief also means not detailed.

when the context has all the details

but still short

definition #1 applies here.

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Something brief can be detailed and something that is not detailed can still be long. Often, leaving out details is a way of making something brief.

(We don't use btw or BTW here - please click here to see the forum guidelines. And remember to start each sentence with a capital letter.)

There are some situations where "brief" and "not detailed " are synonymous but NOT always. In order to communicate why he got the flat tyre, it is not necessary to provide the details you list. (By extending your logic, nothing is ever complete and is always brief!)

[Please note that this question has been added to a previous thread discussing the same topic. DonnyB - moderator]
for example:

"I have a flat tire because it was punctured by a nail I drove over."

Detailed version:

I have a flat rear offside tyre (BrE) because I drove over a piece of wood with a copper nail sticking up through it in my drive at 17 Postuke Close, Erewhon, EW12 7BF, at 10.37 this morning.

Isn't the detailed version still brief(short) if seen in terms of brevity?

Although it has all the details and it cant get any more detailed the text is still not long

while the detailed thing is often long ; it's kind of a characteristic of it.

stewie_gilligan_griffin said:

So you mean @sdgraham 's example is detailed?

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Posts #2 and #11 stressed the importance of the concept of "relative" and it applies to both words.

stewie_gilligan_griffin said:

I understood relatively brief in my previous question. but can't understand relatively detailed. I'm percieving ambiguity

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We all know that the

meanings of these two words are contrasting and the phrase "brief but detailed" acknowledges this and people use it for just the kind of situation where there is overlap. Please click on this link to see for yourself.