in a word
In summary; to say it briefly. The film was, in a word, dull. In a word, I'm quitting. A: "The flight was in a word, bumpy." B: "Ugh, turbulence?" A: "That, and the couple sitting in front of us fought for the entire four hours."
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
in a word
Fig. said simply; concisely said. Mrs. Smith is—in a word—haughty. In a word, the play flopped.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
in a ˈword
(spoken) used for giving a very short, usually negative, answer or comment: In a word, ‘stupid’ is how I’d describe him.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
in a word
In short; in summary: In a word, the situation is serious.
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 word
Briefly, concisely. This expression, which is usually followed by a fair number of words—as in, “In a word, the bank is unable to accommodate Mr. Brown’s request for a loan”—was used by Shakespeare in Two Gentlemen of Verona (“And in a word . . . he is compleat in feature and in mind”). It was much favored by various of Dickens’s more verbose characters, such as Mr. Micawber.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer