brainwash
or brain-wash, brain wash
[breyn-wosh, -wawsh]
- to cause (someone) to undergo brainwashing.
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- the process of brainwashing.
- a subjection to brainwashing.
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Origin of brainwash
First recorded in 1950–55; back formation from brainwashing
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for brainwash
Contemporary Examples
Icons is the attempt of Mr. Brainwash, who represents himself, to storm New York.
Over time, he became a street artist himself: the splendidly named Mr. Brainwash.
A friend had heard that Mr. Brainwash had staked everything he had on this show.
Historical Examples
This makes any attempts to brainwash the enlisted men impracticable and a great deal of pressure is thereby removed.
I Was a Teen-Age Secret WeaponRichard Sabia
brainwash
- (tr) to effect a radical change in the ideas and beliefs of (a person), esp by methods based on isolation, sleeplessness, hunger, extreme discomfort, pain, and the alternation of kindness and cruelty
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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
Word Origin and History for brainwash
v.
1955 (past participle adjective brainwashed attested from 1953); see brainwashing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper