brat

1 of 2

noun (1)

1
a
disparaging : child
specifically : an ill-mannered annoying child
a spoiled brat
b
: an ill-mannered immature person
2
: the child of a career military person
army brats
also : the child of a person whose career is in a specified and typically unusual field
Hollywood brats
brattiness noun
brattish adjective
bratty adjective

brat

2 of 2

noun (2)

ˈbrät How to pronounce brat (audio)
ˈbrat

Examples of brat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
But poor casting was only half of it — Charles Walters' 1955 adaptation unfortunately reimagines the heroine as an irascible antisocial brat with delusions of grandeur, all explained away by bizarre contemporary psychoanalysis provided in voice-over. EW.com, 4 Mar. 2024 Steven Spielberg Scorsese's movie brat buddy Steven Spielberg has the second-most BAFTA nominations in the Best Direction category. Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 14 Feb. 2024 Get Italian sausage or brats, cut open the casings and quickly roll the meat into balls for fast meatballs, already seasoned and ready to go. Kathleen Purvis, Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024 The town boasts beautiful old-world architecture, 800 miles of hiking trails for exploring, more than a dozen tasting rooms with beer and wine, an outdoor theater, and plenty of German eateries serving up brats and schnitzel. Molly O'Brien, Travel + Leisure, 17 Jan. 2024 After years of acting like a full-on brat whenever my partner put sports on TV, I was suddenly planted right beside him whenever a Kansas City Chiefs game was on. Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024 An army brat whose father was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Melton’s childhood was filled with scheduled moves to Canada, Korea, Germany, Texas, and Kansas, each accompanied by a shift in personality. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 6 Dec. 2023 She’s sometimes written as a brat, sometimes too childishly angelic, too often just there to ask questions and prompt someone else to speak. Vulture, 21 Nov. 2023 Priscilla Beaulieu was a 14-year-old Air Force brat when, in 1959, a fellow serviceman of her stepfather stationed in Wiesbaden, West Germany, invited her to the off-base home of Elvis, then 24 and nearing the end of his military service, at 14 Goethestrasse in Bad Nauheim. Andrew Marzoni, The New Republic, 3 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

perhaps from English dialect brat coarse garment

Noun (2)

by shortening

First Known Use

Noun (1)

circa 1505, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun (2)

1949, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of brat was circa 1505

Dictionary Entries Near brat

Cite this Entry

“Brat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brat. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

brat

noun
: child sense 2a
especially : an ill-mannered annoying child
brattish adjective
bratty adjective

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