in a nutshell
In summary; concisely. In a nutshell, the app helps you to plan parties. I don't want the long version—just tell me what your thesis is in a nutshell. A: "So, what's the movie about?" B: "Imagine The Lord of the Rings but set in outer space—that's it in a nutshell."
put it in a nutshell
To summarize or describe something in only a few words. To put it in a nutshell, the servers are crashing because of an issue with our power supply. Let me put it in a nutshell for you—if you show up late again, you're fired!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
in a nut shell
Fig. [of news or information] in a (figurative) capsule; in summary. This cable channel provides the latest news in a nut shell. In a nut shell, what happened at work today?
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
in a nutshell
Concisely, in a few words, as in Here's our proposal-in a nutshell, we want to sell the business to you. This hyperbolic expression alludes to the Roman writer Pliny's description of Homer's Iliad being copied in so tiny a hand that it could fit in a nutshell. For a time it referred to anything compressed, but from the 1500s on it referred mainly to written or spoken words.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
in a nutshell
COMMON You say in a nutshell when you are describing something very briefly. She wants me to leave the company. I want to stay. That's it in a nutshell. I don't know what I'm doing and I guess that's the problem in a nutshell.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
in a nutshell
in the fewest possible words. A nutshell is a traditional metaphor for a very small space. It is used by Shakespeare in Hamlet: ‘I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams’.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
(put something) in a ˈnutshell
(informal) (say or express something) in a very clear way, using few words: Unemployment is rising, prices are increasing; in a nutshell, the economy is in trouble. ♢ ‘Do you like his idea?’ ‘To put it in a nutshell, no.’Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
in a nutshell
In a few words; concisely: Just give me the facts in a nutshell.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
in a nutshell
Concisely or compactly, usually referring to written or spoken words. The Roman writer Pliny in his
Natural History stated that Homer’s great (and very long) epic poem, the
Iliad, was copied in such tiny handwriting that the whole text could be enclosed in a nutshell. This obvious hyperbole caught the imagination of numerous subsequent writers who referred to “the
Iliad in a nutshell,” among them Jonathan Swift and Thomas Carlyle. Later “the
Iliad” was dropped and anything extremely compressed was described as being in a nutshell, a cliché since the mid-nineteenth century. See also
in a word.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer