brainwash
/ˈbɹeɪnwɒʃ/
brainwash noun: a distorting effect upon one's memory, belief, or ideas, as by propaganda.
Noun
brainwash (plural brainwashes)
- A distorting effect upon one's memory, belief, or ideas, as by propaganda.
Verb
brainwash (third-person singular simple present brainwashes, present participle brainwashing, simple past and past participle brainwashed)
- To affect one's mind by using extreme mental pressure or any other mind-affecting process. (e.g. hypnosis)
- Toph can't tell who's lying becaue they both think they're telling the truth. Jet's been brainwashed!2006 November 3, Tim Hedrick, “Lake Laogai” (12:08 from the start), in Lauren MacMullan, director, Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 2 (Book Two: Earth), episode 17, spoken by Sokka (Jack DeSena)
- To take from an electronically controlled machine its stored-up information; to erase a computer's programming. (1960)
- To persuade completely and forcibly.
- The news media brainwashed many people.
brainwash meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Arabic
brainwash in Tamil
- அறிவுமுடக்கம், மூளைச்சலவை
brainwash in Urdu
- form of indoctrination
- دماغ شوئی dimāġ-śū'ī
brainwash in Malayalam
- indoctrinate, condition, re-educate
- മസ്തിഷ്കപ്രക്ഷാളനം നടത്തുക, പ്രത്യയശാസ്ത്രബോധനം നൽകുക, പരുവപ്പെടുത്തുക, പ്രബോധനം നല്കുക, മനസ്സിലേക്കു പുതിയ ആശയങ്ങൾ ചെലുത്തുക, പുതുതായി പഠിപ്പിക്കുക
brainwash in Arabic
- form of indoctrination
- غَسِيل دِمَاغ ḡasīl dimāḡ, غَسِيل مُخّ ḡasīl muḵḵ
- to affect one's mind
- ّغَسَلَ المُخ ḡasala l-muḵḵ
More languagesFewer languages
- brainwash in Indonesian
- cuci otak, mencuci otak
- brainwash in Persian
- شستشوی مغزی šostošu-ye maġzi
- brainwash in Thai
- การล้างสมอง gaan-láang-sà-mɔ̌ɔng, ล้างสมอง láang-sà-mɔ̌ɔng
- brainwash in Vietnamese
- tẩy não
Examples of brainwash in a sentence
- The girls, it turns out, found the experience oddly positive, and not because they were brainwashed or Stockholm syndromed.
- Davis was familiar with the Helsinki Syndrome, where hostages were brainwashed into thinking of their captives as friends.
- She is brainwash to the fact that she think every gay and lesbian in prison is guilty of they crimes.
Forms of brainwash
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | brainwashes |
| alternative form | brain-wash |
| alternative form | brain wash |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | brainwashes |
| present participle | brainwashing |
| past participle | brainwashed |
| past | brainwashed |
Origin of brainwash
From brain + wash, a calque of Chinese 洗腦 /洗脑 (xǐnǎo), literally to wash the brain. Usage via U.S. military during the Korean War.
Words formed from brainwash
Words that rhyme with brainwash
Questions about brainwash
- What does brainwash mean?
- Brainwash means a distorting effect upon one's memory, belief, or ideas, as by propaganda.
- What is brainwash in Tamil?
- Brainwash in Tamil is அறிவுமுடக்கம், மூளைச்சலவை. See Brainwash meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is brainwash?
- Brainwash can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce brainwash?
- Brainwash is pronounced /ˈbɹeɪnwɒʃ/.
- What is the plural of brainwash?
- The plural of brainwash is brainwashes.
Words near brainwash in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brainwash (page history and authors); brainwash (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brainwash (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-brainwash.wav, En-US-Brainwash.ogg.
Cite this entry: “brainwash.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brainwash. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.