Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something, especially a choice or decision, that is so obvious or easy as to require little or no thought.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal An easy or obvious conclusion, decision, solution, task, etc.; something requiring little or no thought.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun anything that requires little thought

Etymologies

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Examples

  • And he was going to be in Denver for the Fly Tackle Dealer Show anyway, so it was what they call a no-brainer.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • And he was going to be in Denver for the Fly Tackle Dealer Show anyway, so it was what they call a no-brainer.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • And he was going to be in Denver for the Fly Tackle Dealer Show anyway, so it was what they call a no-brainer.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • And he was going to be in Denver for the Fly Tackle Dealer Show anyway, so it was what they call a no-brainer.

    Fool’s Paradise John Gierach 2008

  • Now industry players are wondering how a project whose approval was called a "no-brainer" by Mr. Harper has instead been left to founder.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE 2011

  • Well that, Mr. Skimmer, is what we at City Hall call a no-brainer!

    Unearthly Asylum P. J. Bracegirdle 2010

  • Well that, Mr. Skimmer, is what we at City Hall call a no-brainer!

    Unearthly Asylum P. J. Bracegirdle 2010

  • In newspapers and on talk shows across Canada this week following President Barack Obama's decision to delay the $7 billion Keystone-XL pipeline that Prime Minister Harper had famously called a "no-brainer," there's been no shortage of Monday-morning quarterbacking and questions about what went wrong with the proposed project.

    MarketWatch.com - Top Stories 2011

  • It was a decision that the magazine's executive editor, John Knight, describes as a "no-brainer."

    Wired Top Stories Keith Axline 2011

  • For those in elected office trying to scale the clean economy, shouldn't kicking these highly profitable, mature industries off the dole have been a policy and political no-brainer?

    Mike Casey: Message Indiscipline and a Missed Opportunity for Clean Energy Mike Casey 2011

Comments

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  • JM reckons lobotomy is a no-brainer.

    June 19, 2011