brainwashing

Or brain-wash·ing,

[breyn-wosh-ing, -waw-shing]

noun

1. a method for systematically changing attitudes or altering beliefs, originated in totalitarian countries, especially through the use of torture, drugs, or psychological-stress techniques.

2. any method of controlled systematic indoctrination, especially one based on repetition or confusion.

   brainwashing by TV commercials.

3. an instance of subjecting or being subjected to such techniques.

   efforts to halt the brainwashing of captive audiences.

brainwashing

1. Indoctrination that forces people to abandon their beliefs in favor of another set of beliefs. Usually associated with military and political interrogation and religious conversion, brainwashing attempts, through prolonged stress, to break down an individual's physical and mental defenses. Brainwashing techniques range from vocal persuasion and threats to punishment, physical deprivation, mind-altering drugs, and severe physical torture.

Word History and Origins

Origin of brainwashing¹

First recorded in 1945–50; brain + washing

Example Sentences

It involves brainwashing designed to isolate, control and exploit followers.

From BBC

Yunarmia is also targeted by UK sanctions for being part of Russia's campaign of "brainwashing" Ukrainian children.

From BBC

More influential than anti-Communist diatribes were the reminders that there was a world outside Soviet propaganda; each book read was a bid to avoid brainwashing, to not become a tool of the state.

From Los Angeles Times

She accuses the group of "brainwashing" her son, convincing him they were defending the ethnic Kurdish minorities in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

From BBC

Rather than brainwashing us, the objective of the totalitarian is to bludgeon us into apathy, resignation and passivity.

From Salon