Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

brainy

American  
[brey-nee] / ˈbreɪ ni /

adjective

Informal.
brainier, brainiest
  1. intelligent; clever; intellectual.


brainy British  
/ ˈbreɪnɪ /

adjective

  1. informal clever; intelligent

"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

Other Word Forms

  • brainily adverb
  • braininess noun

Etymology

Origin of brainy

First recorded in 1835–45; brain + -y 1

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.

China’s advantage lies in the scale of its ambition, not only in the nation’s brainy tech hubs but also in areas such as Jingzhou, a city of five million people on the Yangtze River.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 25, 2025

Sir Stephen Fry lived up to his brainy reputation over breakfast, by predicting the chessboard was back: "I could be a knight - oh, I already am," he joked.

From BBC • Oct. 23, 2025

Its brainy combination of jazz, classical, post-rock and dreamy synths could easily scare the most conservative faction of Latin Grammy voters — and that would be a grave mistake.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 30, 2025

His bandmates were equally brainy: Mr. Gottlieb had a doctorate in musicology and Mr. Yarbrough once worked as a bouncer to pay for Greek lessons.

From New York Times • May 12, 2024

Why couldn’t even the strong, brainy, cold-proof Neanderthals survive our onslaught?

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari