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 risk remained even after the team controlled for other factors that may increase the risk of sleep apnea or Parkinson's disease including high body mass index, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety and traumatic brain injuries. —Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 25 Nov. 2025

The treatment, which involves using the psychoactive substance from plants, Ibogaine, can treat traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), PTSD, anxiety and depression. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 25 Nov. 2025

His friend also had a traumatic brain injury. —Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 25 Nov. 2025

Two years ago, Eric Van Tine suffered a traumatic brain injury after a fight with a cellmate and died several months later. —Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Nov. 2025

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