Third-person singular present tense: to systematically change someone's beliefs through repeated messaging, isolation, or manipulation.
Verb form of 'brainwash,' formed by adding the '-es' suffix for third-person singular present tense, derived from 1950s coinage 'brainwashing' using the metaphor of cleaning the mind.
The verb 'brainwashes' appears in countless spy thrillers and dystopian novels, but interestingly, real psychological research on cult deprogramming suggests that once people consciously recognize manipulation, they're often quite good at rejecting it.
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