Meaning & use
briny
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Salty, like seawater, in taste or smell.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a linking verb: briny water, the air was briny.
Patterns
- briny water
- a briny smell
The oysters tasted fresh and briny.
A briny breeze blew in from the harbor.
The olives sat in a briny liquid in the jar.
nounsingularold-fashionedhumorous
The sea, in old-fashioned or humorous wording.
Grammar: Takes the: the briny.
Patterns
- the briny
The old sailor longed to return to the briny.
They dived into the briny for a swim.
Word forms
| comparative | brinier |
|---|---|
| superlative | briniest |
Common combinations
- briny taste
- The soup had a briny taste of the sea.
- briny air
- We walked along the pier in the briny air.
- briny water
- Crabs thrive in briny water.
- briny deep
- Old poems speak of the briny deep.
- briny flavor
- Anchovies add a briny flavor to the sauce.
Synonyms and how they differ
- salty
- Salty is the everyday word for any salt taste, while briny adds the idea of the sea or pickling liquid.
- saline
- Saline is a scientific or medical word, as in saline solution.
- saltwater
- Saltwater describes the water itself, whereas briny describes the taste or smell.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: briny or brainy?
briny vs brainy
Brainy means clever and has nothing to do with salt.
Practice
The fresh oysters had a ___ flavor, like a mouthful of the sea.
Choose one answer.
Briny means tasting of salt water. Bland would mean without flavor, and the sentence says the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “briny”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.