What does brainpower mean?
Brainpower is an informal-to-neutral noun meaning mental ability or intellectual capacity. It can describe the intelligence of a single person, as in solving a puzzle that takes considerable brainpower, or the pooled mental resources of a group, as when a company gathers the best brainpower it can find. The word treats intellect almost as a measurable resource — something that can be applied, recruited, taxed, or wasted — which is why it appears so often in business, science, and political writing about talent and innovation. Its tone is generally approving; calling someone's work a feat of brainpower implies admiration rather than dry analysis. Related compounds such as brainstorm and brainchild share the same habit of using "brain" figuratively for thought and invention. For learners, brainpower is useful precisely because everyday words like intelligence sound clinical, while brainpower conveys effortful, applied thinking with a lively, colloquial energy.
nounIntellectual capacity or mental ability; the collective intelligence or mental effort of a person, group, or organization.
- Mental ability or intellectual capacity of an individual.
- The combined intelligence or mental resources of a group or organization.
"The startup's success owed less to its funding than to the sheer brainpower of its small team."
"It takes real brainpower to master three languages before adulthood."
"The company recruited the best brainpower from universities across the country."
Rarely used; brainpower is almost always uncountable.
"The agency drew on the brainpowers of experts across several fields."
Brainpower is a compound English speakers invented for themselves — proof that we needed a word for intelligence you can hire, pool, and put on a payroll.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of brainpower
Brainpower is a compound of two native English words: "brain," from Old English "brægen," and "power," borrowed via Old French "poeir" from Latin-derived roots. The compound arose in the nineteenth century, when English began forming many abstract compounds pairing "brain" with other nouns to express mental qualities. It belongs to a family of figurative "brain" compounds including brainstorm, brainchild, and brainwave, all of which treat the brain as the seat of ideas and ingenuity.
How brainpower is actually used
Informal to neutral in register; common in journalism and business writing. When applied collectively ("the nation's brainpower"), it often carries an approving, slightly admiring tone. It is an uncountable noun in most uses.
Easily confused with brainpower
A brainstorm is a sudden burst of ideas or a group idea-generation session, while brainpower is the underlying mental ability itself.