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brain freeze
noun
: a sudden shooting pain in the head caused by ingesting very cold food (such as ice cream) or drink
Examples of brain freeze in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
There also are popular annual festivals going down this month, like the Emmett Cherry Festival, Boise Pride Fest and Meridian Dairy Days, to name a few.
And prepare yourself for a serious brain freeze with the Boise Ice Cream Festival, which offers more than two weeks of sweet events.
—Michelle Jenkins, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024
No doubt, Nikki Haley’s brain freeze in failing to mention slavery when asked what caused the Civil War harms her quest to be the Republican presidential nominee.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 1 Jan. 2024
Operation Available at Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble
The poor patient in Operation sure has a lot of ailments: writer's cramp, water on the knee, and brain freeze are just the start.
—Julianne Hilmes Bartlett, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Mar. 2022
But jostling through so many bodies after so long made my brain freeze.
—Bryan Washington, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2023
Baltimore had a brain freeze.
—Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 12 Nov. 2021
The Major League Eating speed-eating record for guzzling a 22-ounce Slurpee at 7-Eleven is 9 seconds, held by Patrick Bertoletti, who immediately thereafter suffered sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, more commonly called brain freeze or an ice cream headache.
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Sep. 2022
Colder than a brain freeze.
—Lacey Vorrasi-Banis, EW.com, 22 June 2021
Experiencing brain freeze?
—Corinne Sullivan, Woman's Day, 11 Dec. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brain freeze.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1991, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near brain freeze
Cite this Entry
“Brain freeze.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brain%20freeze. Accessed 13 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
brain freeze
noun
: a sudden sharp pain in the head caused by eating or drinking something very cold
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