How to Use brainwashing in a Sentence
brainwashing
noun-
Mantras then are a kind of healthy, self-imposed brainwashing that puts the brain in a calm state.
—Ephrat Livni, Quartzy, 10 Aug. 2019
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Most of them were ready for the brainwashing like sheep going to slaughter.
—Pamela Weintraub, Discover Magazine, 30 May 2012
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But these practices strike me as forms of self-brainwashing.
—John Horgan, Scientific American, 11 Sep. 2020
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My work deals with capitalism, consumerism, brainwashing, and the idea of a Black body, and how the Black body is being seen today.
—Rayna Reid, Essence, 1 Dec. 2021
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After some kick-ass action, Barnes seems to be at least partially released of his brainwashing by the action of the film.
—Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2021
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And how strange things that can happen between human beings, and the mechanism, brainwashing and all that.
—Risa Sarachan, Forbes, 13 May 2021
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Of course, the aspect of the film that has proven to be most intriguing over time is not the brainwashing theme, but rather the assassination subject matter.
—Gordon Arnold, Slate Magazine, 26 May 2017
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All countries have cults, and being well schooled is no protection against brainwashing.
—The Economist, 12 July 2018
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Women waste so much time and energy on this nonsense, this brainwashing.
—Los Angeles Times, 18 Dec. 2022
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This is the story of what happens to kids in war, what happens to the mind under a kind of brainwashing, especially a susceptible teenage mind.
—Mark Olsenstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Sep. 2019
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Some say that the science of brainwashing has proven that frequency is key, that hammering a message home works, no matter what people like me say.
—Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Feb. 2023
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In some cases, deprogrammers would kidnap a group member, detain them for hours or days, and use arguments and videos to try to undo the brainwashing.
—Michael Schulson/undark, Popular Science, 4 Mar. 2021
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In Demi’s issue, a glossy ad for Gucci printed in the pages before the magazine masthead is jammed with a subtle, studied brainwashing.
—Cintra Wilson, The New York Review of Books, 11 Feb. 2020
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The mass media is the biggest tool of indoctrination, brainwashing and propaganda the world has ever seen.
—Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 1 Nov. 2022
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Dark Persuasion suggests that the language of brainwashing is incommensurate with the problems of our time, and a hangover from the era of America’s most paranoid wars.
—Jo Livingstone, The New Republic, 17 Aug. 2021
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In contrast, Bistline's defense attorney Daniel Kaiser argued that his client was a victim of severe abuse and brainwashing by Bateman.
—Lacey Latch, The Arizona Republic, 13 Dec. 2022
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In contrast, Bistline's defense attorney, Daniel Kaiser, argued that his client was a victim of severe abuse and brainwashing by Bateman.
—Miguel Torres, The Arizona Republic, 15 Dec. 2022
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The problem is the popular use of the word is often used to describe authoritarian groups that practice mind control or brainwashing.
—Mathew Schmalz, The Conversation, 5 Aug. 2021
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Culber also mentions that there are new ways to do brainwashing in which one identity is overlaid on top of another identity.
—Annalee Newitz, Ars Technica, 9 Jan. 2018
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There is little counseling on offer for repatriated Yazidi boys to help treat their trauma or counter the brainwashing they were subjected to.
—Nima Elbagir, Ghazi Balkiz and Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, 18 Oct. 2017
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This is Granny Goodness, another servant of Darkseid who trains elite soldiers for her lord using a combination of sadism, torture, and brainwashing.
—James Grebey, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2021
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A lot of my research and thinking is about how, basically, there's collective brainwashing that has gone on around the purpose of business, and it being solely focused on shareholders and profit.
—Christopher Marquis, Forbes, 1 June 2022
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Reyes said lawyers who wish to make a case for brainwashing or political radicalization would have to demonstrate that their clients have a strong enough mental disability to prevent them from knowing right from wrong.
—Kevin Krause, Dallas News, 31 Jan. 2021
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Meditation is self-brainwashing aimed at taming your monkey mind.
—John Horgan, Scientific American, 6 Feb. 2021
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In that classic film sequence, the non sequiturs and insinuations produce building tension, as well as the suspicion that brainwashing is involved.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Mar. 2023
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The wives expect completely unnatural emotional reactions from the handmaids, and even Aunt Lydia’s brutal brainwashing isn’t enough to put the handmaids’ brains in line with the wives’ expectations.
—Rena Gross, Billboard, 20 June 2018
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There is an exegesis on brainwashing and transcriptions of psychotherapy sessions; there are echoes and doublings.
—David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2022
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While few people take seriously the notion of hypnosis-like brainwashing (outside Hollywood films like Zoolander), there are still plenty who see danger in certain kinds of control.
—Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 22 May 2017
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My stories are about smashing systematic oppression, owning our truths, being accountable to the people and places that support us, and taking back a connection to your body that may have been lost through trauma or societal brainwashing.
—Breena Kerr, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2017
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The search resulted not in a miraculous new weapon but a program of simulated brainwashing designed as a prophylactic against enemy mistreatment.
—Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 22 May 2017
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brainwashing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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