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Glite Dictionary
to decerebrate

to decerebrate

1 9.9
To remove part or all of the brain for study
  • verb
  • /ˌdɛsəˈrɛbərɪt/
  • Specialized
: decerebrar
  • The research involved using surgical techniques to decerebrate certain areas of the brain for analysis.

Examples

  • To investigate the effects on movement, the surgeon decided to decerebrate the laboratory animal carefully.

  • In a study, scientists had to decerebrate the rats to observe their reflexes without brain activity.

  • Decerebrate response?

    Dead Calm (1989)

  • Completely decerebrated?

    Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

  • Decerebrated, General?

    Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

  • So we'll talk about chronic decerebrate animals, animals that have been decerebrated because they've had their forebrain lopped off in surgery, OK.

Synonyms

to lobotomize
vsto decerebrate
  • Archaic
6 9.8

To remove or damage part of the brain by surgery to treat mental illness

is used more broadly to remove or destroy brain tissue for science or medicine

How Severe

to decerebrate
  • Specialized
1 9.9
to destroy
∞ 1.0
to damage
323 1.4
to injure
10 1.6

Surface Forms

decerebrate infinitive
decerebrated past
decerebrated past participle
decerebrating present participle
decerebrates third person singular

Morphology

decerebrate = cerebrate (semi-transparent) = de + cerebr + ate

Formation by de- + cerebrate is regular, but 'cerebrate'/'cerebr-' are technical and relatively rare, so many learners may not recognize the base.

Etymology

Decerebrate is made from de- 'remove' and cerebr- from cerebrum 'brain'. So, to decerebrate is to remove or destroy the brain, which is why the word is used in medical or scientific work.