in short
English
Prepositional phrase
- As a summary; as a shortened version of what has been told or what would have been told.
- 1722, Daniel Defoe, chapter 19, in Moll Flanders:
- [H]e told me I did not treat him as if he was my husband, or talk of my children as if I was a mother; and, in short, that I did not deserve to be used as a wife.
- 1853, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in Bleak House:
- Mr Snagsby has dealt in all sorts of blank forms of legal process; in skins and rolls of parchment; in paper — foolscap, brief, draft, brown, white, whitey-brown, and blotting; in stamps; in office-quills, pens, ink, India-rubber, pounce, pins, pencils, sealing-wax, and wafers; in red tape, and green ferret; in pocket-books, almanacs, diaries, and law lists; in string boxes, rulers, inkstands — glass and leaden, penknives, scissors, bodkins, and other small office-cutlery; in short, in articles too numerous to mention.
- 1915, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:
- I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
- 2008 December 4, Kate Pickert, “A Brief History of Recounts”, in Time[1], retrieved 15 August 2013:
- Most political experts expect the Minnesota election to be decided in the courts or even in the state senate. In short, it's a mess.
Synonyms
Translations
as a summary
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