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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of hard-wired

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Because I work with words for a living, I am hard-wired to try to untangle sentences like this.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025

“All of that is hard-wired into federal funding,” Scheppele said.

From Salon • Mar. 1, 2025

This means the adaptation behaviors the bats employed weren't learned; they were innate, latent and hard-wired into the bats' brain circuitry.

From Science Daily • Nov. 25, 2024

Swansea council electrician Thomas Mainwaring said the local authority’s homes were fitted with hard-wired smoke alarms and were connected to a lighting circuit.

From BBC • Nov. 18, 2024

The instinct to gorge on high-calorie food was hard-wired into our genes.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari