Adjective

(en adjective)

Of short duration; happening quickly.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

How brief the life of man.

*, chapter=10

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation

, passage=That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past. }}

Concise; taking few words.

* (Ben Johnson) (1572-1637)

The brief style is that which expresseth much in little.

*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)

, chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}

Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.

* 1983 , Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers , Penguin 2009, p. 17:

On the beach he always wore a straw hat with a red band and a brief pair of leopard print trunks.

(obsolete) Rife; common; prevalent.

Adjective

(en adjective)

explicit or definite

(sciences) Pertaining to a species.

*2008 , (Richard Dawkins), The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing , Oxford 2009, p. 3:

*:Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.

(taxonomy) pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species

special, distinctive or unique

intended for, or applying to a particular thing

being a remedy for a particular disease

Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.

* Coleridge

In fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of the science.

(immunology) limited to a particular antibody or antigen

(physics) of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)

(physics) similarly referring to a value divided by any measure which acts to standardize it (e.g. thrust specific fuel consumption, referring to fuel consumption divided by thrust)

(physics) a measure compared with a standard reference value by division, to produce a ratio without unit or dimension (e.g. specific refractive index is a pure number, and is relative to that of air)