Word.ws English Dictionary

brainlock

brainlock noun: the situation where a person's brain seems to freeze up, preventing them from proceeding.

Noun

brainlock (uncountable)

  1. (informal) The situation where a person's brain seems to freeze up, preventing them from proceeding.
    • Pilots worry about "brainlock" — that sickening sensation when you pull out of a vertical dive at near 200 mph and have no idea what figure comes next.1991, Air & Space Smithsonian, volume 6, page 78
    • Another, more disturbing reason for no-pulls is what skydivers call brainlock. Jumping out of a plane with your heart pounding and stress hormones pumping, it's no surprise that your mind can freeze up for a few seconds.2009, Ben Sherwood, The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life

Origin of brainlock

From brain + lock.

Questions about brainlock

What does brainlock mean?
Brainlock means the situation where a person's brain seems to freeze up, preventing them from proceeding.
What part of speech is brainlock?
Brainlock is a noun.

Words near brainlock in the dictionary

  1. brainlessly
  2. brainlessness
  3. brainlet
  4. brainlets
  5. brainlike
  6. brainlock
  7. brainly
  8. brainordinate
  9. brainordinates
  10. brainpan
  11. brainpans

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brainlock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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