brain wave

[ breyn-weyv ]

/ ˈbreɪn ˌweɪv /

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See synonyms for: brain wave / brain waves on Thesaurus.com

noun

Usually brain waves .Medicine/Medical. an electrical impulse given off by brain tissue, occurring at a frequency that varies according to mental state or activity, such as the slow waves associated with deep sleep and the fast waves associated with actively engaged thoughts and speech.Compare alpha rhythm, beta rhythm, delta rhythm.

Informal. a sudden idea or inspiration; brainstorm.

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Origin of brain wave

First recorded in 1865–70

Words nearby brain wave

brain trust, brain truster, brain up, brainwash, brainwashing, brain wave, brainwork, brainworm, brainy, braird, braise

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use brain wave in a sentence

Some companies already sell brain monitoring systems made of electrodes that measure external brain waves with a method called electroencephalography.
Three visions of the future, inspired by neuroscience’s past and present|Laura Sanders|March 3, 2021|Science News
NeuroRex uses a wearable electrode cap that reads a person’s brain waves and turns them into commands like “Walk forward,” “Turn,” “Step back,” or “Stop.”
In pictures: up close with transhumanists|Katie McLean|February 24, 2021|MIT Technology Review
In one study, alpha binaural beats, or ones with a pulsing beat similar to that of “alpha” brain waves that are associated with a calm and relaxed state, helped some subjects do better in a creative task.
Do binaural beats benefit your brain?|Sara Kiley Watson|January 28, 2021|Popular-Science
Besides, it was hard to understand what the brain waves really meant in terms of what the neurons in the brain were doing.
Are We Wired to Be Outside? - Issue 92: Frontiers|Grigori Guitchounts|November 11, 2020|Nautilus

With a cap full of EEG electrodes over their heads, they would proceed to have their brain waves recorded.
Are We Wired to Be Outside? - Issue 92: Frontiers|Grigori Guitchounts|November 11, 2020|Nautilus
Casey Schwartz on the "alpha" brain wave wreaking havoc on your sleep.
Why You Wake Up At Night|Casey Schwartz|March 10, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Which must have been entirely brain-wave or thought-reading, as Rosalind had said never a word of her anxiety, so far.
Somehow Good|William de Morgan
Finally as the result of a brain-wave he had requisitioned the local boy scouts.
Mrs. Bindle|Hebert Jenkins
He just loosed another dry Martini into the undergrowth, and before you could turn round it had flushed quite a brain-wave.
My Man Jeeves|P. G. Wodehouse
That vision had been a brain-wave between their two linked and sympathetic brains.
Boon, The Mind of the Race, The Wild Asses of the Devil, and The Last Trump;|Herbert George Wells
It smelled the outpouring of certain glands, tasted a deviant brain wave.
Watchbird|Robert Sheckley

British Dictionary definitions for brain wave (1 of 2)

brainwave

/ (ˈbreɪnˌweɪv) /

noun

informal a sudden inspiration or ideaAlso called: brainstorm

British Dictionary definitions for brain wave (2 of 2)

brain wave

noun

any of the fluctuations of electrical potential in the brain as represented on an electroencephalogram. They vary in frequency from 1 to 30 hertzSee also alpha rhythm, beta rhythm, delta rhythm

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

brain wave

Origin of brain wave

Words nearby brain wave

Words related to brain wave

How to use brain wave in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for brain wave (1 of 2)

British Dictionary definitions for brain wave (2 of 2)