habituate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to accustom (a person, the mind, etc.), as to a particular situation.
Wealth habituated him to luxury.
- Synonyms:
- train, acclimate, familiarize
-
Archaic. to frequent.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to accustom; make used (to)
-
archaic to frequent
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
habituatesimple
-
habituatessimple
-
have habituatedperfect
-
has habituatedperfect
-
am habituatingprogressive
-
are habituatingprogressive
-
is habituatingprogressive
-
have been habituatingperfect progressive
-
has been habituatingperfect progressive
Past
-
habituatedsimple
-
had habituatedperfect
-
was habituatingprogressive
-
were habituatingprogressive
-
had been habituatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of habituate
1520–30; < Late Latin habituātus conditioned, constituted, (past participle of habituāre ), equivalent to habitu ( s ) habit 1 + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
When you habituate something, you're helping it to get accustomed to a new home. Workers in zoos spend a lot of time habituating animals. The word "habit" in habituate is a clue to its meaning — by habituating, you're helping a creature or person get used to new surroundings and establish new habits, especially in a new habitat (home). If your dog spends the night with a friend, you might bring some of his toys to habituate him and make him feel comfortable. It takes a lot of time for a new cat to be habituated to a home. When you habituate something, you're helping it feel comfortable and accustomed to a new place.
Vocabulary lists containing habituate
The Alchemist
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Dear Martin
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Primates
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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:
"By contrast, by mimicking the smell of plants herbivore naturally encounter, and avoid in day-to-day foraging, our approach works with the natural motivators of these animals, with herbivores less likely to habituate to these smells."
From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2024
Other sloths that will return to the wild receive numbers instead of names because the Rodriguezes do not want them to habituate to people.
From Reuters ● Aug. 4, 2021
Mothers should habituate their children to strict schedules, let them cry themselves to sleep and avoid too much love and attention.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2019
Wouldn’t you discuss which loves are higher than others and practices that habituate them toward those desires?
From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2016
Especial attention is to be directed to habituate the men to carry in their minds verbal messages for a considerable period, and then to repeat them clearly and concisely.
From Cavalry in Future Wars by Goldman, Charles Sydney
It said cat food is not a natural part of the nene diet, and eating at the feeding stations habituates nene to people and makes them reliant on the provided food.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2023
Researchers don’t fully understand how the body habituates to cold weather.
From New York Times ● Dec. 21, 2020
But much of it comes from a deep religious faith that habituates the heart in a certain manner — the character that comes from a long obedience in the same direction.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 29, 2019
Douglas and Damon so fully inhabit their roles that the audience soon habituates to the novelty of seeing two such traditionally macho actors cast as gay lovers.
From Slate ● May 24, 2013
It throws out a memento whenever it is practised, and habituates the subject of it to reason in this manner.
From A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 3 by Clarkson, Thomas
Captive parrots have become habituated to humans and popular with pet owners, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026
Blackwell said she has seen cats who have been habituated to harness wearing seemingly very happy to explore mountain ranges, but has also seen clearly unhappy cats being walked on busy streets with heavy traffic.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2026
Investors are habituated to buying into weakness caused by geopolitical tumult but JPMorgan warns it may be a bit early to jump back on board Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
Now, 25 years after starting her pioneering research on savannah chimps, which had never before been habituated to observers, primatologist Jill Pruetz has a wealth of data.
From Barron's ● Jan. 15, 2026
“Once habituated to his distrustful manner,” said I, “I have done very well.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Researchers started habituating the chimps to the presence of humans in 1987.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2024
This is the second attempt at habituating Mpungwe.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2024
Postal Service hitting record levels, the industry where nearly three-quarters of e-commerce companies offer some sort of free shipping is rethinking the financial cost of habituating shoppers to free shipping.
From Reuters ● Mar. 24, 2023
Boat strikes also kill manatees, so further habituating them to vessels or people could be deadly.
From New York Times ● Dec. 7, 2021
My first quarter at Lowood seemed an age; and not the golden age either; it comprised an irksome struggle with difficulties in habituating myself to new rules and unwonted tasks.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
