inculcate
Americanverb (used with object)
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inculcates,
present (3rd person singular)
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inculcated,
past participle, past
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inculcating
present participle
-
to implant by repeated statement or admonition; teach persistently and earnestly (usually followed by upon orin ).
to inculcate virtue in the young.
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to cause or influence (someone) to accept an idea or feeling (usually followed bywith ).
Socrates inculcated his pupils with the love of truth.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inculcatesimple
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inculcatessimple
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have inculcatedperfect
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has inculcatedperfect
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am inculcatingprogressive
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are inculcatingprogressive
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is inculcatingprogressive
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have been inculcatingperfect progressive
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has been inculcatingperfect progressive
Past
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inculcatedsimple
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had inculcatedperfect
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was inculcatingprogressive
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were inculcatingprogressive
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had been inculcatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inculcate
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin inculcātus, past participle of inculcāre “to trample, impress, stuff in,” equivalent to in- “in” + culc- (variant, in noninitial position, of calc-, stem of calx “heel”) + -ātus past participle suffix; see in- 2, -ate 1
Explanation
To inculcate is to teach through frequent instruction. If you repeatedly tell your brother how important it is to be responsible, then you’re trying to inculcate in him a sense of responsibility. The word inculcate traces back to the Latin word inculcare, meaning “to force upon or to stamp in.” If anyone has even tried to inculcate you with something, it may seem as if something is being stamped into your brain — over and over and over. A key thing to remember about this word is repetition: something, such as a value or a belief, is instilled in the brain by the persistent restating of its importance.
Vocabulary lists containing inculcate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To tell one’s beads regularly requires a measure of the discipline it is meant to inculcate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
"I think you need to try and inculcate people into an understanding of the structures of governance, how you can engage in those structures."
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2025
As Sagan wrote in his 1985 novel Contact, an awareness of extraterrestrial life would serve to inculcate the “power of the planetary perspective.”
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2023
News, said the goal of the rankings was to use data to measure the return on investment for students, not necessarily to measure the values that deans wanted to inculcate.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
These are the qualities that welfare - to-work job-training programs often seek to inculcate, though I suspect that most welfare recipients already possess them, or would if their child care and transportation problems were solved.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
This year brought a late, travel-related cancellation from the gifted pianist Utsav Lal, who inculcates the Indian classical tradition into his accompaniment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
Athletic contests are a schoolhouse of democracy that inculcates the habits of civic engagement necessary for a free people to thrive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2024
Despite being physically gone, Numa continues to narrate the course of the film, a deliberate storytelling choice by Bayona that inculcates the theme of consumption as a type of communion.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2024
“One of the things about recovery that I think people sometimes overlook is the fact that it inculcates certain values. Be honest. Be accountable. Help other people. Apologize when you’re wrong.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 18, 2020
Self-reliance and resignation are the lessons which he constantly inculcates.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 6 "Home, Daniel" to "Hortensius, Quintus" by Various
We were inculcated with the importance of charity, love toward all, good works and humility, and urged to carry those virtues into adulthood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
It’s a grisly, funny ritual in which they reveal the self-disgust that their menial jobs have inculcated in them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
A brother inculcated Mr. Arthit; Ms. Thanaporn’s passion was passed down by her father.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2024
For public defenders dedicated to the work, or coming into the field with the hypercompetitive spirit inculcated by some law schools, such setbacks can be devastating.
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2023
It was a rite that strengthened group identification and inculcated positive values.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Authorities also sent Tibetan children to state-run boarding schools at ever-younger ages, educating them predominantly in Mandarin and inculcating Chinese culture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
“This is not about enforcing standards,” she said, “it’s about inculcating a particular value system within the officer corps.”
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2025
It’s an irresistible ditty that starts by contrasting a text-to-speech voice inculcating on Isaac Newton with Pearce and musician Sharron Kraus singing about the sun’s mass.
From Scientific American ● May 27, 2022
Our parents taught us to care — and the faculty here seemed to be intent on inculcating into us the fact that we had an obligation to care.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2018
Religion then, by inculcating the practice of fasting and abstinence from flesh meat at certain times, has conferred a great benefit on the race.
From Religion And Health by James J. (James Joseph) Walsh
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
