Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for brainpower. Search instead for brainpowers.
Synonyms

brainpower

American  
[breyn-pou-er] / ˈbreɪnˌpaʊ ər /

noun

  1. intellectual capacity; mental ability.

  2. people with superior mental abilities.

    an emergency medical conference of all available brainpower.
brainpower British  
/ ˈbreɪnˌpaʊə /

noun

  1. intelligence; mental ability

"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

Etymology

Origin of brainpower

First recorded in 1875–80; brain + power

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The theme of season 2 is “Strong vs. Smart,” pitting 100 athletically inclined contestants against 100 contestants who run on brainpower.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 3, 2026

Walking 7,000 steps a day can be enough to boost your brainpower and help protect against a range of different diseases, a major study suggests.

From BBC • Jul. 23, 2025

All that brainpower would have been for naught, however, save for the beneficence of Uncle Sam.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2025

“Higher education is essential for those with disabilities, because we typically have to use our brainpower to get jobs and rely on our education to overcome any sort of barriers,” he says.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 26, 2024

Being very small and very young, the only power Matilda had over anyone in her family was brainpower.

From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.