idiom · neutral
in a nutshell
/ɪn ə ˈnʌtʃəl/in·a·NUT·shell
speakingtask2
to say something briefly; to summarize the main point
Examples
“To put it in a nutshell, we need more time and more money.”
“She explained the scheme in a nutshell before the meeting.”
“In a nutshell, the experiment failed because of human error.”
Band 8 sentence
“To sum up in a nutshell, the policy achieved its aims but at an unsustainable cost.”
Collocations
- put it in a nutshell
- explain something in a nutshell
Word family
in short idiom/phrase
Common mistakes
in nutshell→in a nutshell
nutshell→in a nutshell
Say it for a higher band
5briefly→6in short→7+in a nutshell
Synonyms
in short
Easily confused
in short
“In short, we can't afford the project.”
Related words
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In Communication
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