cerebral

UK/ˈsɛ.ɹɪb.ɹəl/US/səˈɹi.bɹəl/

adjectiveC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,860 of 15,258leans written

Cerebral means to do with the brain, or appealing to intellect over feeling. Cerebral palsy, a cerebral film, cerebral cortex.

The medical sense is neutral and anatomical — cerebral palsy is a group of conditions caused by damage to the developing brain. The other sense is faint praise: a cerebral film is clever and cold, and the word implies something is missing.

Definitions of cerebral

1adjectivecerebralTo do with the brain, or appealing to intellect over feeling.C1
“Chess is a cerebral game, all thinking and no running about.”

cerebral is a quality.

Where it comes from

French cerebral comes from Latin cerebrum, the brain.

Proto-Indo-European
*ḱerh₂-
Latin
cerebrum — a brain
French
cérébral
English, today
cerebral

Borrowing from French cérébral, from Latin cerebrum (“a brain”); equivalent to cerebrum + -al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

cerebral in the wild

The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals.
Cerebral cortex
In most mammals, the cerebral cortex is folded, providing a greater surface area in the confined volume of the cranium.
Cerebral cortex
Cerebral circulation is the movement of blood through a network of cerebral arteries and veins supplying the brain.
Cerebral circulation
The volume of blood in circulation is called the cerebral blood flow.
Cerebral circulation
From 1978 to 2014, cerebral palsy football was governed by the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA).
CP football

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.

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