in a nutshell

in a nutshell

Meaning

• to be brief and straight to the point.
• a concise summary of everything that has been said
• to reduce everything that has been stated to its simplest form

Example Sentences

1. In a nutshell, all the new mayor was saying is that the fight against crime will be taken much more seriously.
2. In a nutshell, Mary only wants everyone to be happy and she is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this.
3. As the new CEO, Mark told us in a nutshell that his plans for the company are expansion, innovation and sustainability.
4. Tell us how you intend to execute all your plans in a nutshell.
5. Sophie please don't tell me fairy tales, I just want to know the real matter in a nutshell.

Origin

The first time this phrase was used was quite literal. Around the 1^st century AD, in his text titled Pliny's Natural History, Pliny tells a tale of how his friend, Cicero told him that he saw a copy of Homer's famous poem, Iliad being made in a miniature form so that the whole poem written on a parchment can fit into the shell of a walnut. Therefore, the phrase in a nutshell came to be used to refer to reducing something so large to being simple and brief.