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brainwave

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,849 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: brainwaves

A brainwave is a sudden very good idea. Have a brainwave, a sudden brainwave, one of his brainwaves.

The British sense is the idea; Americans say brainstorm for the same thing, which in Britain means a moment of confusion instead. The literal sense is the electrical rhythm of the brain, measured on a scan.

TjeerdB · Public domain

Definitions of brainwave

  1. 1nounbrainwaveA sudden very good idea.B2+

    “I've had a brainwave: why don't we hold the party in the garden?”

brainwave is an idea.

Where it comes from

Brain plus wave, from the electrical rhythms recorded from the brain.

From brain + wave.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Thinking & Memory

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brainwave in the wild

  • James Fung, Ariel Garten, and Steve Mann have created brainwave systems to control different musical variables in an interactive way, including underwater brainwave concerts.

    Electroencephalophone

  • Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system.

    Neural oscillation

  • Certain brainwave frequencies are associated with general psychological processes.

    Neurometrics

  • Altering brainwave activity is believed to aid in the treatment of psychological and physiological disorders.

    Audio-visual entrainment

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.