Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Intensive, forcible indoctrination, usually political or religious, aimed at destroying a person's basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs.
  • noun The application of a concentrated means of persuasion, such as an advertising campaign or repeated suggestion, in order to develop a specific belief or motivation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun the process of forcible indoctrination into a new set of attitudes and beliefs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of brain-washing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun forcible indoctrination into a new set of attitudes and beliefs

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Translation of Chinese (Mandarin) xǐ nǎo : , to wash + nǎo, brain.]

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Examples

  • He agreed the term brainwashing can be used in two different senses, involving an element of physical force and no such physical element.

    Professor says Scientology church tried to isolate him

  • British journalist Edward Hunter translated the term brainwashing in his 1953 book, “Brain-Washing in Red China,” which described communist techniques for controlling the minds of nonbelievers.

    Could Elizabeth Smart be a victim of brainwashing?

  • * Some one somewhere took the term brainwashing literally.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Buzz

  • Melvin Bledsoe described what he called the brainwashing' of his son, saying Carlos was a happy teenager who changed after he went to college and converted.

    Emotions Run High at Hearing

  • He spent his time in prison trying to undo the years of what he calls the brainwashing he received as a young man in Suweidi.

    CNN Transcript Nov 7, 2004

  • But even though we've been inundated with all these waves of social engineering-that's what they call brainwashing nowadays-I'm nevertheless optimistic that, if we succeed in building up a force in Germany that reminds people about Germany's culture in science and art, that the German people is nevertheless a people with enormous potential.

    LaRouche's Latest

  • Talk of "brainwashing" is everywhere -- this cleansing action allegedly to take place in a mere twenty minutes or so, unlike the lengthy, far less efficient efforts of the Chinese during the Korean War.

    Archive 2009-09-01

  • I'd pay a subscription fee if I could have what you are talking about - and maybe a little less brainwashing from the advertisers ......

    What is going on here????

  • I'd pay a subscription fee if I could have what you are talking about - and maybe a little less brainwashing from the advertisers ......

    What is going on here????

  • This just sounds like brainwashing from a faith based therapist.

    Jenny Sanford on her husband: 'The ball is in his court'

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