traumatic brain injury

noun

: an acquired brain injury caused by external force (such as a blow to the head sustained in a motor vehicle accident or fall or shrapnel or a bullet entering through the skull)

Traumatic brain injury occurs when the shock from an explosion damages neurological fibers. Soldiers may survive a blast with scarcely a cut, only to find over time that they suffer coordination and memory loss, dizziness, insomnia.

—Nancy Gibbs

An unprotected fall, especially if the player is unconscious or his opponent lands on top of him, can result in severe traumatic brain injury.

—Michael J. Stuart et al.

broadly : acquired brain injury

—abbreviation TBI

Examples of traumatic brain injury in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The latest legislative push was prompted by a car accident in California in June 2024 that left Coleman, then five-years-old, with a traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy, according to the White House. —Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 25 Feb. 2026

Other conditions, including traumatic brain injuries and a range of mental health disorders, rarely present the same way two days in a row. —Steven Beynon, ABC News, 25 Feb. 2026

Last year’s expansion of the state’s Compassionate Use Act through House Bill 46 added traumatic brain injury, Crohn’s disease and chronic pain to the list. —Miriam Fauzia, Dallas Morning News, 14 Feb. 2026

Then she was hit by a car, which left her with a traumatic brain injury. —Daniel Yadin, Curbed, 11 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1931, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

traumatic brain injury

noun

: an acquired brain injury caused by external force (as a blow to the head sustained in a motor vehicle accident or fall or shrapnel or a bullet entering through the skull)

A soldier—or a civilian—can survive the blast without a single penetrating wound and still receive the worst diagnosis: traumatic brain injury, or TBI, the signature injury of the Iraq War.

—Michael Mason, Discover

An unprotected fall, especially if the player is unconscious or his opponent lands on top of him, can result in severe traumatic brain injury.

—Michael J. Stuart et al., USA Today

broadly : acquired brain injury

—abbreviation TBI