cerebral

adjective ce·re·bral \ sə-ˈrē-brəl , ˈser-ə- , ˈse-rə- \

|Updated on: 5 Aug 2018

Examples: cerebral in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of cerebral

1 a : of or relating to the brain or the intellect

b : of, relating to, affecting, or being the cerebrum

cerebral edema

cerebral arteries

2 a : appealing to intellectual appreciation

cerebral drama

b : primarily intellectual in nature

a cerebral society

books for cerebral readers

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cerebrally

play \-brə-lē\ adverb

See cerebral defined for English-language learners

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Examples of cerebral in a Sentence

He's a very cerebral comedian.
a very cerebral jurist who has given much thought to what makes our nation's constitution work

Recent Examples of cerebral from the Web

Others made the trip for the first time, including Alec Savicki, whose sister, Leah, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at St. Ottilien around the same time Glass’ brother.

— emanuella grinberg, Smithsonian, "When a Bavarian Monastery Provided a Home to Jewish Refugees," 11 July 2018
The other thing about Faith that makes her different from some of the more brooding, cerebral superheroes on the market?

— refinery29.com, "Superhero Movies Have Heard Us: We Are Finally Getting A Plus-Size Heroine," 5 July 2018
That said, neither their concerts nor their albums are meant to be purely experimental or overly cerebral.

— ryan kost, SFChronicle.com, "Kim Gordon, Bill Nace live in the moment as Body/Head," 5 July 2018
Carter Hart, widely regarded as the Flyers’ goalie of the future, is a cerebral sort.

— sam carchidi, Philly.com, "Flyers goalie prospect Carter Hart is a student of the game," 3 July 2018
Palmer’s bands tend to balance combustive drive with cerebral rumination.

— john adamian, courant.com, "Tedeschi Trucks And Jay Critch Are Just Two Of This Week's Must-See Shows," 2 July 2018
But Wilkie, a cerebral, modest policy wonk, is no apolitical public servant . .

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Crowley going down spotlights the looming Democratic identity crisis," 27 June 2018
Battling with orcs and warlocks may seem less cerebral than chess or Go, games at which computers beat top humans in 1997 and 2016, respectively.

— tom simonite, WIRED, "Can Bots Outwit Humans in One of the Biggest Esports Games?," 25 June 2018
But generally speaking, poor cerebral blood flow can lead to brain tissue death and result in stroke, hemorrhage and other conditions, according to Healthline.

— laura newberry, latimes.com, "Citing health study, Lancaster mayor wants to ban workplace necktie requirements for city employees," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cerebral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

English borrowed its word cerebrum directly from the Latin word for "brain," but the adjective cerebral took a slightly more circuitous route into our language, reaching English by way of French cerebral. Cerebrum has been used in our language as a name for the brain since the early 1600s, though the more specific scientific sense, referring just to the large upper part of the brain, didn't develop until later. Cerebral has been appearing in print in English since at least 1816. Other brainy descendants of cerebrum in English include cerebellum (the part of the brain between the brain stem and the back of the cerebrum) and cerebrate, which arrived in English in 1915 with the meaning "to use the mind" or "to think."

Origin and Etymology of cerebral

French cérébral, from Latin cerebrum brain; akin to Old High German hirni brain, Greek kara head, keras horn, Sanskrit śiras head — more at horn

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1816

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year