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hard-wired

Or hard·wired

[hahrd-wahyuhrd]

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

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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of hard-wired1

First recorded in 1970–75
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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.

The court also heard hard-wired smoke alarms in the property had been removed months before the fire and a number of skylights in the room had been nailed shut to prevent any children from climbing on to the roof.

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She said she wanted people to remember "men can also be victims of domestic violence" and added: "As a culture we are hard-wired to believe domestic violence towards a man is impossible."

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

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"I now understand that my conditions were like a reflex or an allergy, my response was hard-wired and no conscious choice was involved," he told the BBC.

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But after a decade in a trio, the instinct to compromise was hard-wired.

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