traumatic brain injury

noun

: an acquired brain injury caused by external force (such as a blow to the head sustained in a motor vehicle accident or fall or shrapnel or a bullet entering through the skull)
Traumatic brain injury occurs when the shock from an explosion damages neurological fibers. Soldiers may survive a blast with scarcely a cut, only to find over time that they suffer coordination and memory loss, dizziness, insomnia.Nancy Gibbs
An unprotected fall, especially if the player is unconscious or his opponent lands on top of him, can result in severe traumatic brain injury.Michael J. Stuart et al.
broadly : acquired brain injury
abbreviation TBI

Examples of traumatic brain injury in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
She was hospitalised with a traumatic brain injury and remains in a coma. Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 2 Sep. 2026 Phineas Gage, an American railroad construction foreman, suffered a traumatic brain injury when an iron rod was driven through his head, destroying much of his brain’s left frontal lobe. USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026 With ongoing advocacy and reform, football not only persisted in colleges, but spread across the population and deepened its social, political, economic, and emotional stakes, carrying along with it the problem of traumatic brain injury. Emily Harrison, STAT, 31 Aug. 2026 Her attorney also pointed to a prior lawsuit filed by a 62-year-old man who had suffered a traumatic brain injury after riding X2 with his two daughters in 2009, years before O’Neill ever boarded the attraction. Blake Ellis, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for traumatic brain injury

Word History

First Known Use

1931, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of traumatic brain injury was in 1931

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Cite this Entry

“Traumatic brain injury.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/traumatic%20brain%20injury. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

Medical Definition

traumatic brain injury

noun
: an acquired brain injury caused by external force (as a blow to the head sustained in a motor vehicle accident or fall or shrapnel or a bullet entering through the skull)
A soldier—or a civilian—can survive the blast without a single penetrating wound and still receive the worst diagnosis: traumatic brain injury, or TBI, the signature injury of the Iraq War.Michael Mason, Discover
An unprotected fall, especially if the player is unconscious or his opponent lands on top of him, can result in severe traumatic brain injury.Michael J. Stuart et al., USA Today
broadly : acquired brain injury
abbreviation TBI
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