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hard-wired

American  
[hahrd-wahyuhrd] / ˈhɑrdˈwaɪərd /
Or hardwired

adjective

  1. Computers.

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

    2. (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.

  3. pertaining to or being an intrinsic and relatively unmodifiable behavior pattern.

    Every cricket has a hard-wired pattern of chirps.


hard-wired British  

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

Etymology

Origin of hard-wired

First recorded in 1970–75

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.

"We're hard-wired to feel attachment to things that are people-like," says Dr Morrin.

From BBC

For a movie about the amusing bond between a cold-blooded extraterrestrial killer and a hard-wired robot, “Predator: Badlands” forges an exceptional amount of mortal compassion between the two, and Fanning’s mindful, meticulous performance is its beating heart.

From Salon

For a movie about the amusing bond between a cold-blooded extraterrestrial killer and a hard-wired robot, “Badlands” forges an exceptional amount of mortal compassion between the two, and Fanning’s mindful, meticulous performance is its beating heart.

From Salon

By leaving our bubbles, we widen our perspectives and, for at least a moment, relinquish what David Foster Wallace once called our “natural, hard-wired default-setting . . . to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Only then did he provide the code to a safe that held a “hard-wired” crypto wallet stored on a thumb drive, Brownstone told the judge.

From Los Angeles Times