brain teaser

brain teas·er

B b

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [breyn tee-zer]
- /breɪn ˈti zər/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [breyn tee-zer]
- /breɪn ˈti zər/

Definitions of brain teaser words

countable noun brain teaser A brain teaser is a question, problem, or puzzle that is difficult to answer or solve, but is not serious or important. 3
noun brain teaser a difficult problem 3
noun brain teaser a puzzle or problem whose solution requires great ingenuity. 1

See all 3 definitions of brain teaser

Information block about the term

Origin of brain teaser

First appearance:

before 1920

One of the 12% newest English words

First recorded in 1920-25; brain + tease + -er1

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Brain teaser

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Brain teaser

brain teaser popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 50% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

brain teaser usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for brain teaser

noun brain teaser

riddle — a coarse sieve, as one for sifting sand in a foundry.
mystery — anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown: the mysteries of nature.
puzzlement — the state of being puzzled; perplexity.
poser — wannabe, pretentious person
mystification — to perplex (a person) by playing upon the person's credulity; bewilder purposely.

All 9 Synonyms of brain teaser