migraine
Americannoun
-
migraines
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of migraine
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin hēmicrānia hemicrania; cf. megrim
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How does migraine compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A migraine is a severe headache. When you get a migraine, you'll probably want to stay in bed, in a dark room, until it passes. When you get a headache that's so painful that you can't work or function, you've probably got a migraine. It's usually women who get migraines, and you are either a person who gets migraines throughout your life, or you never get one at all. Migraines often come with side effects like nausea and blurred vision, and they often affect just one side of the head. The word comes from the Greek hemi-, "half" and kranion, "skull."
Vocabulary lists containing migraine
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Planet Middle School
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The Lions of Little Rock
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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.
See Examples For:
The deluge included more than 700 papers covering hundreds of problems across number theory, algebraic geometry and other fields with names that could give people haunted by high-school math a migraine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
It said it had a "specialist headache clinic that covers conditions such as migraine, which GPs can refer people to when appropriate".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
"People need to understand that a migraine is a full body experience," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
My mother remarked, approvingly, that the lighting didn’t give her a migraine.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
She had learned her patience through years of sidestepping migraine.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
"There was this pattern of women coming in with migraines, stomach issues, musculoskeletal and immune issues. Ultimately it was hard to ignore," she says.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Listen, y’all … some headaches are not just headaches or migraines, they can be much worse and a warning sign. Get a brain scan if you can and take those headaches seriously.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The move came after pilots said they had repeatedly noticed odors in the aircraft associated with suspected toxic fume events and had experienced migraines while flying the planes, according to people familiar with the decision.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Five more - migraines, acne, scabies, ear infections and badly blocked noses - are now also being added to that list.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
In Health, we once saw a documentary on migraines.
From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
