hardwired
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“Hardwired” is often used loosely to refer to functions that are innate and unlearned in living systems: “The ability to perceive objects in a certain way appears to be hardwired into the brains of mammals.”
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.
Our enduring affection for Ross may be hardwired into our collective psyche, in other words.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
"There is a tendency for anxious parents to become caught up in a prevailing media panic and see all adolescent brains as simply hardwired for social media addiction," he says.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
Many researchers believe this trait is hardwired into our brains for evolutionary reasons.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 24, 2025
“But children, they come hardwired, and I don’t think you can predict that.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
Rowan knew that as much as she hated the idea of being a scythe, she would jockey for position over him because that’s how she was hardwired.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
