hard-wired

or hard·wired

[ hahrd-wahyuhrd ]

adjective
  1. Computers.

    • built into a computer's hardware and thus not readily changed.

    • (of a terminal) connected to a computer by a direct circuit rather than through a switching network.

  2. (of electrical or electronic components) connected by hardwiring.

  1. pertaining to or being an intrinsic and relatively unmodifiable behavior pattern: Every cricket has a hard-wired pattern of chirps.

Origin of hard-wired

1
First recorded in 1970–75

Words Nearby hard-wired

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hard-wired in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for hard-wired

hard-wired

adjective
  1. (of a circuit or instruction) permanently wired into a computer, replacing separate software

  2. (of human behaviour) innate; not learned: humans have a hard-wired ability for acquiring language

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for hardwired

hardwired

In computer jargon, a circuit is hardwired if it is built to perform a specific function and requires no outside instructions or program.

Notes for hardwired

“Hardwired” is often used loosely to refer to functions that are innate and unlearned in living systems: “The ability to perceive objects in a certain way appears to be hardwired into the brains of mammals.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.