Meaning & use
brand
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Meanings
nouncountablebusiness
A name, symbol, or design that identifies a company's products and tells them apart from competitors' products.
Grammar: Count it with 'a' and ask 'What brand of...?'; the plural is brands.
Patterns
- a brand of something
- a well-known brand
- the brand's reputation
What brand of coffee do you usually buy?
The scandal badly damaged the brand's reputation.
Small stores struggle to compete with famous brands on price.
nouncountablefigurative
A particular kind or style of something, especially one person's distinctive way of doing things.
Grammar: A figurative use, always with 'of': 'a brand of humor'.
Patterns
- a brand of humor
- a brand of something
He has developed his own brand of quiet comedy.
She offered a calm, practical brand of leadership during the crisis.
verbtransitive
To burn a permanent mark into an animal's skin, usually with a hot iron, to show who owns it.
Grammar: Takes an object: brand the cattle. Related to the noun 'branding iron'.
Patterns
- brand cattle
- brand an animal
Ranchers brand their cattle with a unique symbol so they can identify them.
The young horses were branded before being sold.
verbtransitivedisapproving
To say publicly that someone is a bad type of person, so that others judge them unfairly.
Grammar: Common patterns: 'brand someone a liar' or 'brand someone as dishonest'.
Patterns
- brand someone as something
- brand someone a liar
The newspaper branded him a traitor without any real evidence.
She was unfairly branded as unreliable after one late delivery.
Word forms
| third person singular | brands |
|---|---|
| past tense | branded |
| past participle | branded |
| -ing form | branding |
Common combinations
- brand name
- The brand name appears in small letters on the back of the watch.
- brand loyalty
- Years of good service have created strong brand loyalty among its customers.
- brand image
- The company hired a designer to refresh its old-fashioned brand image.
- a leading brand
- It is one of the leading brands in sportswear.
Synonyms and how they differ
- make
- British usage for the maker of a product, especially cars and machines: 'What make is your car?' A brand is wider and includes image and reputation.
- trademark
- A legal term for a registered sign or name; a trademark protects a brand but is not the same as the brand itself.
- label
- The piece of paper or tag on a product showing its name; a brand is the identity behind the label.
Word family
Commonly confused: brand or branch? brand or bland?
brand vs branch
A branch is a part of a tree, a bank office, or a division of an organization; the middle letter changes the meaning completely.
brand vs bland
Bland means mild and without strong flavor or character; it is almost the opposite of a strong brand identity.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'brand' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A brand is a company's product identity, so a new 'brand of coffee' is correct. You brand animals or accuse people; you don't 'brand milk', and the budget sentence mixes two different money words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “brand”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.