BRIEF
Yes, BRIEF was the Wordle answer on January 11, 2024 (Wordle #936).
As an opener, it rules out about 92.8% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈbɹiːf/[ˈbɹʷɪi̯f]/ˈbɹif/
- Adjective
-
Of short duration; happening quickly.
“Her reign was brief but spectacular.”
- Adjective
-
Concise; taking few words.
“His speech of acceptance was brief but moving.”
- Noun
-
A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
- Noun
-
An answer to any action.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Wordle status
A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.
Playable guess
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: January 11, 2024 (#936).
See the full page for that puzzle: January 11, 2024 (#936).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How BRIEF performs as a guess
BRIEF is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 81.6% of games, misses completely in 18.4%, and leaves about 171 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,594 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.66 guesses in games solved within six turns.
Try your feedback pattern
Tap the tiles to match your feedback, then see the ranked follow-up guesses.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe BRIEF used as an opening guess. Entropy is the same idea as “avg ruled out” on a log scale: a higher number means the guess splits the possible answers into more, smaller groups.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How BRIEF performed in the previous complete opener benchmark, against its captured answer snapshot. These research figures are separate from today's solver recommendations. See the data page for the method.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches BRIEF in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
BRIEF can come back 99 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for BRIEF; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing BRIEF
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to BRIEF.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing BRIEF:
Research on BRIEF
Game-tree analysis and word research for BRIEF, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with BRIEF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #4,496 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
No guaranteed hard-mode solve In hard mode, no strategy that opens with BRIEF can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.66, at or below the proven-optimal 3.70, because the two figures score different answer lists.
These figures come from exhaustive game-tree search and are exact for the NYT lists of July 2023 (3,158 answers). They do not use the site's working answer pool.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, BRIEF is a kind of instrument or abstract.
Synonyms abbreviated SHORT concise
Opposites long
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- BRIEF sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 33 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 9, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 29 of 100. Raters found it difficult to picture.
In a sentence
I will be very brief.
Be brief and to the point.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).