Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA severe, disabling headache, usually affecting only one side of the head, and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia and visual disturbances.
nounA neurological condition characterised by such headaches.
Sentence Examples
I have a migraine.
For years, Tom suffered from migraine headaches.
The causes of migraine are still not known.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She had to lie down in a dark room because of a bad ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Sarah had to lie down in a dark and quiet room because her intense ____ made any kind of bright light or loud noise unbearable.
Word Origin & History
First appears c. 1425. A respelling (following French) of the late 14th century Middle English megrim, from the 13th century Old French migraigne, from Vulgar Latin pronunciation of Latin hemicrania (“a pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-, half”) + κρανίον (kraníon, “the skull”) (whence also cranium), a calque of Egyptian gs-tp (“a headache”), from gs (“half”) + tp (“the head”), although the link between the Egyptian magical papyri and the Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía) could be purely incidental. Cognate to megrim, hemicrania.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It was in 1976, during our first family holiday to Disneyland, California, that my family learned the difference between a headache and a migraine."
— 2006, Dian Caouette, Migraine Rewritten: A Journey from Debilitating Headache Pain to Regained Health, page 6:
"A team of international researchers has recently identified the first—ever genetic link to common migraine (common migraine refers to migraine without aura, and it is the most common type of migraine that occurs)."
— 2013, Susan Hutchinson, The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine, page 18:
"Syncope is estimated to occur in bouts of headache in approximately 5% of adult patients with migraine."
— 1995, Robert A. Davidoff, Migraine: Manifestations, Pathogenesis, and Management, page 60:
"Migraine is characterized by recurrent unilateral, often pulsating, headaches, worsened by physical activity and associated with nausea, photophobia and phonophobia."
— 2005, Michael H. Silber, “Chapter 28: Headaches and sleep disorders”, in Christian Guilleminault, editor, Clinical Neurophysiology of Sleep Disorders, page 337: