indoctrination

American  

[in-dok-truh-ney-shuhn] / ɪnˌdɒk trəˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of indoctrinating, or teaching or inculcating a doctrine, principle, or ideology, especially one with a specific point of view.

   religious indoctrination.

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Other Word Forms

• reindoctrination
  noun

Etymology

Origin of indoctrination

indoctrin(ate) + -ation

Explanation

Indoctrination means teaching someone to accept a set of beliefs without questioning them. Your sister's orientation at her new job might seem more like indoctrination if she comes home robotically reciting her corporate employee handbook. Indoctrination often refers to religious ideas, when you're talking about a religious environment that doesn't let you question or criticize those beliefs. The Latin word for "teach," doctrina is the root of indoctrinate, and originally that's just what it meant. By the 1830s it came to mean the act of forcing ideas and opinions on someone who isn't allowed to question them.

Example Sentences

"Indoctrination, that's not a legal term, that's a judgement. It's in the eye of the beholder," said Rebecca Bratspies, a law professor at the City University of New York School of Law.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2023

She added that the Education Not Indoctrination slate was “a little fringy.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 8, 2022

Indoctrination takes root best in exhausted minds and hungry bodies.

From Time • Jun. 26, 2015

Indoctrination at house and street meetings is almost impossible.

From Time Magazine Archive

Political Indoctrination At the time of the Communist takeover in 1944 and in the years immediately thereafter, political commissars were an integral part of the military organization.

From Area Handbook for Albania by Elpern, Sarah Jane

Related Words

• persuasion