brainstorm

[breyn-stawrm]

noun

1. 1. a sudden impulse, idea, etc..

      Her most recent brainstorm of teaching her dog to surf wasn’t met with much enthusiasm from the dog.

   2. Chiefly British Informal.,  a fit of mental confusion or excitement.

2. a session of brainstorming.

adjective

1. of or relating to brainstorming.

verb (used without object)

1. to conduct or practice brainstorming, a technique for generating ideas and solving specific problems with uncensored and nonlinear thinking, usually performed through group participation in a spontaneous discussion where all ideas are noted without assigning them value, and no proposal is selected or discarded until after the conclusion of the creative exercise.

verb (used with object)

1. to generate (ideas, solutions, questions, etc.) through brainstorming.

brainstorm

/ ˈbreɪnˌstɔːm /

noun

1. a severe outburst of excitement, often as the result of a transitory disturbance of cerebral activity

2. informal,  a sudden mental aberration

3. informal,  another word for brainwave

Other Word Forms

• brainstormer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of brainstorm¹

First recorded in 1890–95; brain + storm; originally a manifestation of a serious psychiatric disorder

Example Sentences

But what I did expect, which has come to fruition, is we move really fast, we get energy from being physically around each other and brainstorming with a whiteboard.

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I picture Grandma weaving the threads together, humming and chuckling while she brainstorms the next mind-bending story she’s going to tell me about Ghana.

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Then, she had what is nowadays called a brainstorm.

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Such tool use—notably hand letter-cutting in stone, producing forms like those we see on traditional monuments—stands for “materiality, for slowness, for permanence” in the face of boardroom brainstorming and assembly-line production.

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On the morning of the 14th, they brainstormed ways to open up the unit 3 building to let out hydrogen steam.

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Related Words

• deliberate