brain-dead

adjective

ˈbrān-ˌded 

1

: characterized by brain death

2

: lacking intelligence or vitality

brain-dead fools

Synonyms

• airheaded
• birdbrained
• bonehead
• boneheaded
• brainless
• bubbleheaded
• chuckleheaded
• dense
• dim
• dim-witted
• doltish
• dopey
• dopy
• dorky [slang]
• dull
• dumb
• dunderheaded
• empty-headed
• fatuous
• gormless [chiefly British]
• half-witted
• knuckleheaded
• lamebrain
• lamebrained
• lunkheaded
• mindless
• oafish
• obtuse
• opaque
• pinheaded
• senseless
• simple
• slow
• slow-witted
• soft
• softheaded
• stupid
• thick
• thick-witted
• thickheaded
• unintelligent
• unsmart
• vacuous
• weak-minded
• witless

Examples of brain-dead in a Sentence

it seems like she's always doing some brain-dead thing or another

Recent Examples on the Web

The victim, 31-year-old María Peñaloza from Queens, went into cardiac arrest and was declared brain-dead last month after a man posing as a plastic surgeon attempted to remove the implants, according to court documents. —Megan Forrester, ABC News, 17 Apr. 2025

Her most recent album, 143, is a bouncy, brain-dead paean to pleasure and uncomplicated empowerment. —Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2025

At the end of Episode 8, the parents of a young college student who accidentally overdosed on fentanyl finally accept that their son is brain-dead and will donate his organs. —Jeremy D. Larson, Pitchfork, 11 Apr. 2025

Then, out of nowhere, she gets hit by a van, leaving her comatose and brain-dead in the hospital. —Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for brain-dead

• abed
• ahead
• beachhead
• bedspread
• bedstead
• behead
• blackhead
• blockhead
• bloodshed
• bowhead
• breastfed
• bridgehead