debrief
dee-BREEF
/ˌdiːˈbriːf/
To question someone in detail about a completed mission, project, or journey to gather intelligence or evaluate performance.
Specifically occurs after an event has concluded, focusing on gathering lessons learned and critical data.
The story behind the word. This word originated during World War II in the Royal Air Force. Pilots were 'briefed' (given short, essential instructions) before a flight; when they returned, the process was reversed ('de-briefed') to extract the information they had gathered during their mission.
Word relationships
- interrogate: Interrogate is adversarial and suspicious, whereas debrief is cooperative and focused on gathering objective data from your own team.
- review: Review is a general term for looking over something, while debrief is a specific process of questioning participants.
- brief: To give instructions or information before a mission or task.
Commonly confused with
- brief: Briefing happens before an action to prepare someone; debriefing happens after an action to analyze what occurred.
Word family
- debriefing (noun): The meeting or process in which someone is debriefed.
Collocations
- debrief the team
- conduct a debrief
- post-mission debrief
Example sentences
- "The commander met with the pilots to debrief them immediately after they landed." A military operation returning to base.
- "We need to debrief the sales team to understand why the campaign fell short of its targets." A corporate team reviewing a product launch.
Memory hook
After a mission, you take off your 'brief'-case and 'debrief' your boss. Take off the briefcase and explain.
When not to use
Do not use before or during an event; a debrief is strictly retrospective.
Fun facts
- Debriefing is now widely used in psychology to help participants process stress or trauma after an intense event or experiment.
Related words
Explore more words
interview, probing, hindsight, retrospect, introspection, inquiry
Also appears in
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