brainless
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English braynles; equivalent to brain + -less.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
[edit]brainless (comparative more brainless, superlative most brainless)
- (not comparable) Having no brain.
- Synonym: anencephalous
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- Surely it was more likely that a brainless creature, acting solely by vague predatory instinct, would give up the chase when I disappeared, and, after a pause of astonishment, would wander away in search of some other prey?
- (comparable) Unintelligent, with little common sense.
- Synonyms: half-brained, half-witted; see also Thesaurus:stupid
- Antonym: brainy
- Coordinate term: mindless
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- "I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, […]!"
- (of a thing done) Overly repetitive and unchallenging, not requiring any careful attention or providing any significant stimulation.
- Synonym: mindless
- Antonym: engrossing
- Near-synonyms: automatic, rote, dull
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]having no brain
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unintelligent; having little or no common sense
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