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

Leake now plays for the US Women’s CP National Soccer Team alongside athletes with cerebral palsy or who have had a stroke or traumatic brain injury. —Julia Sullivan, SELF, 16 July 2024

Carter in December denied the government’s first motion to dismiss the case, and in May certified the case as a class action on behalf of all homeless disabled veterans with serious mental illnesses or traumatic brain injuries. —Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2024

The assault caused permanent traumatic brain injury and complications. —Louis Casiano, Fox News, 13 June 2024

That worker, who didn’t respond to a request for an interview, suffered a traumatic brain injury; fractures to his pelvis, right shoulder and spine; a liver laceration; a shattered kidney; and some loss of vision in both eyes, his lawyer wrote. —Madeleine O'Neill, Baltimore Sun, 20 June 2024

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