Standard Lemma guide

brainy

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbɹeɪni/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪni
  • CMU ARPABET: B R EY1 N IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Very intellectually capable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

Examples

  • She's brainy as well as pretty.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: clever, smart, astute, brainy, bright, brilliant, educated, genius, gifted, hivey, ingenious, intellectual, intelligent, keen, knowledgeable, piquant, quick, quick on the uptake, quick-witted, rational, sagacious, savvy, scholared, sharp, talented, whip-smart, wise

Antonyms: half-brained, brainless, addlebrained, addlepated, airheaded, bee-brained, beef-witted, beefheaded, beetle-headed, birdbrained, blockheaded, Boeotian, boneheaded, boofheaded, braindead, bubbleheaded, buffle-headed, bullet-headed, cerebrally challenged, childish, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, crackbrained, cretinous, daft, dense, dented, dim-bulb, dim-headed, dim-witted, dim, doltish, dopey, dozy, drowsy, dull-headed, dull-minded, dull-witted, dull, dumber than a box of rocks, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatheaded, feeble-minded, flea-brained, foolish, fuzzy-headed, fuzzy-minded, goofy, half-witted, hammer-headed, idiotic, ignorant, imbecilic, inane, insipid, intellectually challenged, knuckleheaded, lamebrained, lowbrow, lumpish, lunkheaded, mentally challenged, mentally retarded, mindless, monosynaptic, moronic, muttonheaded, nitwitted, numbskulled, oafish, obtuse, peabrained, pratty, pudding-headed, puerile, purblind, quarter-witted, retarded, ridiculous, rockheaded, sharp as a bowling ball, sheep-headed, silly, simple, slow, slow on the uptake, slow-witted, smooth-brained, stolid, stupid, thick-skulled, thickheaded, thickwitted, thick, unapprehensive, unclever, uninformed, unintelligent, unsmart, vacant, vacuous, witless, wooden-headed, wool-headed, woolly-headed, woolly-minded, dumb as a bag of hammers, dumb as a box of rocks, dumb as a doorknob, dumb as an ox, dumb as a post, dumb as a sack of hammers, dumb as dirt, dumber than a rock, not the sharpest crayon in the box, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not the sharpest tool in the shed, thick as a brick, thick as a plank, thick as champ, thick as mince, thick as two short planks, thick as a whale omelette, ass-brained, fuckwitted, shit-for-brains, thick as pig shit

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of or relating to the brain.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: brainial, cerebral

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

having or marked by unusual and impressive intelligence

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • some men dislike brainy women
  • a brilliant mind
  • a brilliant solution to the problem

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: brilliant, smart as a whip

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English brayny; equivalent to brain + -y.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Greek: έξυπνος (éxypnos) — intelligent
  • Māori: ihumanea — intelligent
  • Polish: bystry — intelligent
  • Russian: мозгови́тый (mozgovítyj) — intelligent
  • Spanish: sesudo — intelligent