brain dead

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Thân thiện
Definition
  1. Adjective:
    • Medically: Having suffered irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem, as determined by clinical criteria and often confirmed by a flat (isoelectric) electroencephalogram (EEG). This is a legal and medical definition of death.
    • Informal/Figurative: Used to describe a state of extreme mental dullness, lack of intelligent thought, or complete inactivity. It implies being utterly unresponsive, stupid, or boring.
Usage and Examples
  • Medical Context:
    • After the accident and 24 hours of tests, the patient was declared brain dead.
    • The hospital's ethics committee reviewed the brain-dead donor's case.
  • Informal/Figurative Context:
    • After eight hours of meetings, I felt completely brain dead.
    • That movie was so boring it was brain-dead television.
Advanced Usage and Notes
  • Legal Status: In many jurisdictions, a person who is medically brain dead is legally dead, even if other bodily functions are maintained by life support.
  • Attributive Use: Commonly used before a noun (e.g., a patient, a policy).
  • Hyphenation: The hyphenated form "brain-dead" is standard, especially when used attributively. The unhyphenated "brain dead" is also common, particularly in medical terminology.
Variants and Related Words
  • Brain death (n): The medical condition of being brain dead.
    • The diagnosis of brain death must be made by two independent physicians.
  • Vegetative state (n): A different medical condition where there is some brainstem function, but not consciousness. This is not synonymous with brain dead.
Synonyms
  • Medically: Clinically dead (in the specific context of neurological criteria).
  • Informally: Mindless, comatose (figuratively), numb, stupid, dull, vacuous.
Antonyms
  • Medically: Alive, conscious.
  • Informally: Alert, sharp, brilliant, lively, intelligent.
Idiomatic Expressions and Phrases
  • (As) brain-dead as a doornail: An emphatic informal phrase meaning utterly stupid or devoid of thought.
    • That proposal is as brain-dead as a doornail; it will never work.
  • To go brain-dead: To temporarily become unable to think or function mentally.
    • I went brain-dead during the exam and forgot everything.
Adjective
  1. having irreversible loss of brain function as indicated by a persistent flat electroencephalogram
    • was declared brain dead

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