softening of the brain

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. a softening of the cerebrum, caused by impairment of the blood supply; encephalomalacia.

2. Informal. dementia associated with general paresis.

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softening of the brain British  

noun

1. an abnormal softening of the tissues of the cerebrum characterized by various degrees of mental impairment

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Etymology

Origin of softening of the brain

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

All had softening of the brain, all were paralytic.

From Time Magazine Archive

He dutifully went under canvas with his pugnacious battalion, but he was pretty much of a failure, declined into rose pruning, and died after a sad "softening of the brain."

From Time Magazine Archive

The death rate is 89.4 per 100,000, substantially that of nephritis, 90.1, and cerebral hemorrhage and softening of the brain, 90.4; all diseases of middle and advanced age.

From Time Magazine Archive

Chief among these known causes is a communicable germ disease called syphilis, to which is due the disease called paresis, or "softening of the brain."

From American Red Cross Text-Book on Home Hygiene and Care of the Sick by Cross, American Red

It’s softening of the brain, that’s what it is—memory gradually going; and yet I think of Gertrude and dare—Well, the doctor said I was all right; he ought to know.

From A Double Knot by Fenn, George Manville

Related Words

• brain damage
• mental disorder