Synonyms for brief

Most common

1. Concise — concise; taking few words

adj. 1
Concise; taking few words.
His speech of acceptance was brief but moving.
n. 1
A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
v. 1
To summarize a recent development to some person with decision-making power.
The U.S. president was briefed on the military coup and its implications on African stability.

From the opposite of brief, on the left, to its strongest synonyms, on the right.

Brief or Short?

Anything short or brief is of relatively small extent.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

concise Either one is fine, but the former is more concise.
fleeting At the age of 84, I dreamed about a fleeting love.
succinct The epitaph engraved on the headstone was a meaningful, succinct poem.
terse He was always terse on the telephone.

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

4 letters: curt¹
5 letters: short¹, quick¹, remit², terse¹, pithy²
6 letters: little², sketch¹, digest², scanty²
7 letters: passing², summary³, instant², concise², epitome⁴, cursory³, laconic³, compend
8 letters: abstract², synopsis³, fleeting², syllabus³, succinct², breviary
9 letters: temporary⁴, transient², condensed², summarize³, ephemeral⁴, summarise
10 letters: compendium⁴, transitory⁴, abridgment, conspectus
11 letters: abbreviated⁵, abridgement³

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (remit² = 2 syllables).