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

Within approximately 30 hours of injury, children with traumatic brain injury had lower levels DNA methylation than children without brain injury. —Amery Treble-Barna, The Conversation, 9 Dec. 2025

Since 2000, roughly 480,000 military service members have sustained traumatic brain injuries, according to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center and RAND’s Invisible Wounds of War Project. —Center Square, The Washington Examiner, 5 Dec. 2025

An autopsy determined that Price died of multiple injuries from the crash, while Thorton-Sandy died of tension pneumothorax and traumatic brain injury, officials announced at the hearing, according to the BBC. —Sam Gillette, PEOPLE, 4 Dec. 2025

Siena Saints men’s lacrosse coach Liam Gleason died after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a fall at his home, the school announced on Wednesday. —Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 4 Dec. 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