cerebral
Americanadjective
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Anatomy, Zoology. of or relating to the cerebrum or the brain.
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betraying or characterized by the use of the intellect rather than intuition or instinct.
His is a cerebral music that leaves many people cold.
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Phonetics. retroflex.
noun
adjective
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of or relating to the cerebrum or to the entire brain
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involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct
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phonetics another word for cacuminal
noun
Discover More
The term is also used figuratively to describe things that appeal to the intellect.
Other Word Forms
- cerebrally adverb
- intercerebral adjective
- noncerebral adjective
- overcerebral adjective
- postcerebral adjective
- precerebral adjective
- subcerebral adjective
- supercerebral adjective
- supercerebrally adverb
Etymology
Origin of cerebral
From the New Latin word cerebrālis, dating back to 1795–1805. See cerebrum, -al 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.
The former midfield maestro was expected to overhaul Madrid's game with a cerebral and tactically adroit approach, but his team flattered to deceive.
From Barron's
I’m very thoughtful, and sometimes I feel like I can be cerebral.
Clint and I had many conversations, very cerebral conversations, theoretical conversations about story — and emotion was one of them.
From Los Angeles Times
Using this system, the scientists showed that the thalamus plays a central role in shaping specialized neural circuits within the human cerebral cortex.
From Science Daily
The researchers found that how neural timescales are arranged across the cerebral cortex plays a key role in how efficiently the brain shifts between large scale patterns of activity tied to behavior.
From Science Daily
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.
