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As Superman fans know, Brainiac was the superintelligent villain in the Action Comics series and its spin-offs. His name is a portmanteau of brain and maniac. You don't need x-ray vision to see the connection here—etymologists think Superman's brainy adversary is the likely inspiration for the common noun brainiac. The term was not coined right away though. The comic-book series was launched in 1938 and the character Brainiac debuted in 1958, but current evidence doesn't show general use of brainiac to refer to a superintelligent person until the 1970s.
Examples of brainiac in a Sentence
Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 17 Sep. 2024
The company hired a team of brainiacs and gave them latitude to pursue research questions in service of the perfect brew.
—Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 25 May 2024
The bright-eyed Redmayne really fits the part of a brainiac – especially in a story about one of our greatest minds.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2024
All this attaches the show’s brainiac spectacle to big humanistic ideas.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for brainiac 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brainiac.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Brainiac.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brainiac. Accessed 21 Oct. 2024.
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