migraine

migraine — noun

1. A very painful form of headache. It can also make you feel sick, throw up, or ha

1.nounB2
Definition

A very painful form of headache. It can also make you feel sick, throw up, or have trouble seeing clearly. The pain is often strong and beating and may affect only one side.

Example

Liang felt a bad migraine coming on during the afternoon meeting.

feel + a migraine + coming on for describing the onset

The bright screen triggered a migraine that ruined Camila's entire evening.

trigger + a migraine for a common cause

Common collocations
  • have a migraine
  • suffer from migraines
  • trigger a migraine
  • migraine attack
  • migraine sufferer
  • chronic migraine
  • migraine medication
Synonyms
  • headache

    A general term for any pain in the head. Migraine is a specific, much more severe type that includes nausea and vision problems.

Grammar Patterns

have + a migraine

suffer from + migraines

migraine + noun (e.g. migraine attack, migraine sufferer)

Usage Note

Can be used as an uncountable noun when referring to the medical condition in general ('She suffers from migraine'), or as a countable noun when referring to a specific attack ('I had a migraine yesterday').

Common Mistakes

I have a migraine.' (for a normal headache).
I have a headache.
Migraine is a specific medical condition with symptoms far beyond ordinary head pain, so it should not be used for everyday headaches.

Word family

  • migrainous
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Headache is the broadest term for any pain in the head area. Migraine is a specific neurological condition with severe, often throbbing pain — usually on one side — plus nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light or sound that can last hours or days. Cluster headache is another severe type, but it comes in short, intense bursts (often daily for weeks) centred around one eye, with restlessness rather than a desire to lie still. Tension headache is the most common type — a mild to moderate, pressing pain on both sides of the head, without nausea or vision problems. For example, 'I took a nap and my tension headache faded' sounds natural, but 'I took a nap and my migraine went away' does not — migraines typically need medication and a dark, quiet room to improve.

headache ↗cluster headachetension headache

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Prepositions

Etymology

GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Migraine comes from French 'migraine', which developed from Late Latin 'hemicrania', meaning 'pain on one side of the head'. The Latin word was borrowed from Greek 'hēmikrania', a combination of 'hēmi-' ('half') and 'kranion' ('skull'), referring to the one-sided nature of the pain.