brainwashing

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
21
Words With Friends
24
Letters
12

Definition of brainwashing

2 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)A form of indoctrination that forces people to abandon their beliefs in favour of another set of beliefs by conditioning through various forms of pressure or torture.
    “So it came about, through Pavlov's work, that the Soviets developed and perfected the 'brain-washing' technique seen to be so effective in the state trials of the 1930s. An amazed world witnessed the sight of intelligent and renowned figures genuinely confessing to criminal acts against the state, or voicing ideological dogma in a total reversal of their previously held values.”
    “All new prisoners were assigned to "study groups" or "introductory teams" that were responsible for applying a variety of brain-washing techniques designed to break down all old beliefs and attitudes and replace them with Communist-Socialist thoughts.”
See all 2 definitions

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)A form of indoctrination that forces people to abandon their beliefs in favour of another set of beliefs by conditioning through various forms of pressure or torture.
    “So it came about, through Pavlov's work, that the Soviets developed and perfected the 'brain-washing' technique seen to be so effective in the state trials of the 1930s. An amazed world witnessed the sight of intelligent and renowned figures genuinely confessing to criminal acts against the state, or voicing ideological dogma in a total reversal of their previously held values.”
    “All new prisoners were assigned to "study groups" or "introductory teams" that were responsible for applying a variety of brain-washing techniques designed to break down all old beliefs and attitudes and replace them with Communist-Socialist thoughts.”

verb

  1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of brainwash

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Calque of Chinese 洗腦 /洗脑 (xǐnǎo, literally “wash brain”). First use appears c. 1950.

Words you can make from brainwashing

200+ playable · top: RAINWASHING (18 pts)

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9-letter words

3 words

8-letter words

14 words

7-letter words

41 words

6-letter words

55 words

5-letter words

86 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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