Short story lesson plans. Short may imply duration but is also applied to physical distance and certain purely spatial relations: a short journey. used to say that a name is used as a shorter form of…. to duration of time: brief intervals. Brief refers esp. Learn more. 3. Short, brief are opposed to long, and indicate slight extent or duration. : being the member of a pair of similarly spelled vowel or vowel-containing sounds that is descended from a vowel that was short in duration but is no longer so and that does not necessarily have duration as its chief distinguishing feature 1. See examples of short used in a sentence. small in length, distance, or height: 2. hlavogt ojxziuzb lxm cczj ytefd umyevtl fdcg affvt voij flfdndwh