brainwave
noun
Simple meaning
Any of many rhythmic fluctuations of electric potential between parts of the brain.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
braynwayvSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹeɪnweɪv
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.
noun
A sudden idea, understanding, or inspiration; a brainstorm.
Any of many rhythmic fluctuations of electric potential between parts of the brain, especially those seen on an electroencephalogram.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A sudden idea, understanding, or inspiration; a brainstorm.
Used this way, brainwave is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: sudden idea or understanding or or inspiration
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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.