Cerebral

//ˈsɛ.ɹɪb.ɹəl// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of or relating to the brain, cerebrum, or cerebral cortex. relational
2
Retroflex. obsolete
3
Intellectual rather than emotional or physical.
"Certainly, “Capital” is a cerebral read and the dangers of the world Marx lived in are not all the same as ours."

Adjective

1
involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct wordnet
2
of or relating to the cerebrum or brain wordnet

Synonyms

accented alveolar apical apico-alveolar apico-dental articulated

Antonyms

acerebral exoteric visceral emotional

Example

"The cerebral cortex is the brain's outer layer."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowing from French cérébral, from Latin cerebrum (“a brain”); equivalent to cerebrum + -al.

Etymology 2

Semantic loan from Sanskrit मूर्धन्य (mūrdhanya, “pertaining to the head”).

Related phrases

cerebral achromatopsia cerebral aqueduct cerebral artery cerebral blood flow cerebral cortex cerebral crus cerebral edema cerebral hemisphere cerebral hemorrhage cerebral localisation cerebral localization cerebral oximetry

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.