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Meaning of brain in English

brain
noun
uk
/breɪn/ us
/breɪn/
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A2 [ C ]
the organ inside the head that controls thought, memory, feelings, and activity:
Doctors tried desperately to reduce the swelling in her brain.
brain damage The accident left him with permanent brain damage.
brain tumour His wife died from a brain tumour.
brain development
brain cancer
brain cell
brain injury
brain tissue
C1 [ C ]
used to refer to intelligence:
Marie has an amazing brain (= is very intelligent).
The poor child inherited his mother's brains and his father's looks.
He's got brains but he's too lazy to use them (= he is intelligent but lazy).
use your brain That can't possibly be the right way to do it - use your brain!
[ C usually plural ] informal
a very intelligent person, especially one who has spent a lot of time studying:
We have the best brains in the land working on this problem.
the brains [ S ]
the most intelligent person in a group, especially the person who plans what the group will do:
the brains of My little brother's the brains of the family.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
The brain & nervous system
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Idiom

have something on the brain
brain
verb [ T ]
  informal
uk
/breɪn/ us
/breɪn/
to hit someone on the head:
I'll brain you if you don't keep quiet.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Hitting and beating
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(Definition of brain from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

brain | American Dictionary

brain
noun [ C ]
us
/breɪn/
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the organ inside the head that controls thought, memory, feelings, and physical activity:
a brain tumor
brain surgery
They found fractured ribs, other bone injuries, and brain damage.
infml A brain is also a very intelligent person:
We’ve got the best brains in the country working on this problem.
(Definition of brain from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

brain | Business English

brain
noun
  informal
uk
/breɪn/ us
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[ C, usually plural ]
a very intelligent person:
We've got the best brains in the industry working on the cars.
the brains [ S ]
the person responsible for the planning and management of an activity or organization:
the brains behind sth He is the brains behind the corporation's success.
(Definition of brain from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of brain

brain
The mouse brains were excised and collected for histopathological study and immunological analyses.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The three techniques used had the same sensitivity for virus detection in bat brains (100 %).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Studies have demonstrated that our brains contain neurally based 'body schema', or representations of our bodies.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Our brains are plastic in the sense of being adaptable, able to learn to operate in new ways as the environment demands.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The account also implies we couldn't survive severe amnesia or strokes that render our brains infant-like and in need of retraining.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Replication of distinct scrapie prion isolates is region specific in brains of transgenic mice and hamsters.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Two other chapters in this section cover the neuron, which is the brain's ' microprocessor ' and the many different neurotransmitter systems.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
One month after immunization brains were processed to detect b-galactosidase expression by immunohistochemistry.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
One boy tells another that their teacher: is always telling us to use our own hands and brains.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
How many subtypes of glia exist in the brains of invertebrates and mammals?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Since every human being's history and circumstances are different, each brain's wiring is going to be quite unique.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The idea that psychologists' choice of experimental paradigms has representation in the animals' brains is too, too much!
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Also, big brains would still remain adaptive even without niche construction.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Three times he has infected our blood and brains with the bacillus of perfection.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
If the number of languages is finite, the enumeration might be inscribed as such in the brains of human infants.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of brain
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with brain

brain

These are words often used in combination with brain.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

brain activation
At present, however, no data indicate that brain activation can be demonstrated whenever vivid dream reports are obtained.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
brain aneurysm
He died on 3/21/08 after falling into a coma from suffering a brain aneurysm on 3/17/08.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
brain cancer
A community group has counted 18 children with brain cancer and 3 children with brain cysts since 1996.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with brain
What is the pronunciation of brain?
 

Translations of brain

in Chinese (Traditional)
腦，大腦, 頭腦, 智力…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
脑，大脑, 头脑, 智力…
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in Spanish
cerebro, inteligencia, cabeza…
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in Portuguese
cérebro, cabeça, inteligência…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Telugu
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
मेंदू, बौद्धिक क्षमता, हुशार…
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脳, 脳（のう）…
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beyin, son derece zeki insan, zekâ…
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cerveau [masculine], (au/du) cerveau, intelligence…
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cervell…
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brein, hersenen, hersen-…
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சிந்தனை, நினைவகம், உணர்வுகள் மற்றும் செயல்பாட்டைக் கட்டுப்படுத்தும் தலைக்குள் உள்ள உறுப்பு…
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दिमाग, बुद्धि, बुद्धिमान व्यक्ति…
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મગજ, ભેજું, બુધ્ધિ…
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hjerne, forstand, godt hoved…
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hjärna, huvud, begåvning…
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otak, bijak, orang bijak…
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das Gehirn, ‘das Köpfchen‘, der Kopf…
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hjerne [masculine], hjerne, forstand…
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دماغ, ذہن…
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мозок, розум, глузд…
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మెదడు, బుర్ర, తెలివి…
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মস্তিস্ক, মাথার ভিতরের অঙ্গ যা চিন্তা, স্মৃতি…
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mozek, mozkový, inteligence…
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otak, pandai, orang pintar…
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สมอง, ความฉลาด, คนฉลาด…
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bộ não, trí tuệ, người thông minh…
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mózg, rozum, tęga głowa…
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뇌…
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cervello, cerebrale, intelligenza…
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