brainwash
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To affect one's mind by using extreme mental pressure or any other mind-affecting process.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
braynwahshSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹeɪnwɑʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
psychologytransitive
To affect one's mind by using extreme mental pressure or any other mind-affecting process. (e.g. hypnosis)
Persuade completely, often through coercion
transitive
To persuade completely and forcibly.
noun
A distorting effect upon one's memory, belief, or ideas, as by propaganda.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To affect one's mind by using extreme mental pressure or any other mind-affecting process. (e.g. hypnosis)
Used this way, brainwash is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use brainwash
- “The propaganda brainwashed many people.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Subjected to intensive forced indoctrination resulting in the rejection of old beliefs and acceptance of new ones.
Forcible indoctrination into a new set of attitudes and beliefs.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.