What does Brainwash mean?

Definitions for Brainwash
ˈbreɪnˌwɒʃ, -ˌwɔʃbrain·wash

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Brainwash.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. brainwashverb

    persuade completely, often through coercion

    "The propaganda brainwashed many people"

  2. brainwashverb

    submit to brainwashing; indoctrinate forcibly

Wiktionary

  1. brainwashnoun

    An effect upon one's memory, belief, or ideas.

  2. brainwashverb

    To affect one's mind by using extreme mental pressure or any other mind-affecting process. (i.e. hypnosis)

  3. brainwashverb

    To take from an electronically controlled machine its stored-up information; to erase a computer's programming. (1960)

  4. Etymology: A calque of the Chinese 洗脑 (Pinyin: xǐ năo), literally "to wash the brain". Usage via U.S. military during Korean War.

Wikipedia

  1. brainwash

    Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subjects' ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values and beliefs.The term "brainwashing" was first used in English by Edward Hunter in 1950 to describe how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them during Korean War. Research into the concept also looked at Nazi Germany, at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers. In the late 1960s and 1970s, there was considerable scientific and legal debate, as well as media attention, about the possibility of brainwashing being a factor when Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was used, or in the conversion of people to groups which are considered to be cults. The concept of brainwashing is sometimes involved in lawsuits, especially regarding child custody. It can also be a theme in science fiction and in political and corporate culture. In casual speech, "brainwashing" and its verb form, "brainwash", are used figuratively to describe the use of propaganda to persuade or sway public opinion. The concept of brainwashing is not generally accepted as a scientific term.

ChatGPT

  1. brainwash

    Brainwash refers to the act or process of pressuring, influencing, or manipulating someone's beliefs, attitudes or thoughts, often through systematic and repeated practices such as persuasion, propaganda, or indoctrination, often to achieve certain predetermined results or outcomes. This might be applied in religious, political, commercial, or other contexts and can result in the individual's thoughts and decisions being significantly controlled or influenced by the person or group doing the brainwashing.

Suggested Resources

  1. brainwash

    Song lyrics by brainwash -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by brainwash on the Lyrics.com website.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Brainwash in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Brainwash in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of Brainwash in a Sentence

  1. Mohammed Shafiq:

    If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up, if you are a girl, they will enslave and abuse you.

  2. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe:

    I did some checking, (T)he stuff that they teach our kids nowadays, they are brainwash -- you have to un-brainwash them when they get out.

  3. Rami Abdulrahman:

    They use children because it is easy to brainwash them. They can build these children into what they want, they stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead.

  4. Kevin McGary:

    They’re undermining our children, they are taking the position as if they have the right to propagandize them, brainwash them and then use them for radical purposes with radical ends.

  5. Ana Bouza:

    I was president of the school government, and they were trying to brainwash us into thinking that they were bringing benefits and well-being to the people, obviously not. Right now, that country, the one that I was born in, is even worse than the day that I left. So I’m thankful to be here. I would defend this country (the U.S.), with my life if I had to.

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Translations for Brainwash

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"Brainwash." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Brainwash>.

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