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
- unhabituated adjective
Etymology
Origin of habituate
1520–30; < Late Latin habituātus conditioned, constituted, (past participle of habituāre ), equivalent to habitu ( s ) habit 1 + -ātus -ate 1
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.
Then there are habits: we can habituate ourselves to speed - so fast can feel slow, and vice versa, depending on what you're used to.
From BBC
The process might actually begin much earlier than previously thought, they said, notably when animals became habituated to human environments.
From BBC
Lead researcher, Prof Gillian Forrester explained that being a reporter and broadcaster has probably made me "quite habituated to being put in stressful positions".
From BBC
The University of Zurich team observed a group of bonobos from a project by local biologists that had habituated the animals over 10 to 15 years, depending on the group.
From Salon
“We had three or four habituated bears that were constantly here in town,” said Fisher.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
