cerebral

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

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

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

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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

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

— BostonGlobe.com, "This day in history," 12 Apr. 2018
Both approaches to looking at early skulls give us evidence about the volumes of ancient brains and some details about the relative sizes of major cerebral areas.

— Scientific American, "How Has the Human Brain Evolved?," 9 Apr. 2018
And if Bahrain was anything to go by, might F1 give us a cerebral battle of strategy to last the 2018 season?

— jonathan m. gitlin, Ars Technica, "Formula 1 on ESPN sees massive improvement; IndyCar thrilled in Phoenix," 9 Apr. 2018
Before Vigneault and Tortorella, there was the cerebral Tom Renney, who took the Rangers to the playoffs three straight times.

— allan kreda, New York Times, "With Alain Vigneault Out, Rangers Have Yet Another Position to Fill," 8 Apr. 2018
An even rarer condition associated with elevated intracranial pressure is cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a blood clot in the veins that drain blood from the brain.

— rick pescatore, Philly.com, "Medical mystery: Headaches that needed more than pills to resolve," 8 Apr. 2018
As the authors of the study note, common manifestations of these conditions also include symptoms like fevers, intra-cranial pressure and cerebral hemorrhages, which, prior to the 20th century, were treated with trepanation.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "Rare Case of ‘Coffin Birth’ Seen in Medieval Grave," 5 Apr. 2018
As cerebral organoids get more sophisticated, scientists are starting to snap them together like Legos.

— megan molteni, WIRED, "Mini Brains Just Got Creepier—They’re Growing Their Own Veins," 3 Apr. 2018
That contrast in approaches — from cerebral to heartfelt, perhaps, or artistically curious to crowdpleasing — plays out across Spielberg’s multiple returns to the genre throughout his career.

— graeme mcmillan, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Ready Player One' Shows Steven Spielberg's Sci-Fi War With Himself," 31 Mar. 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

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