indoctrinate
Americanverb (used with object)
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indoctrinates,
present (3rd person singular)
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indoctrinated,
past participle, past
-
indoctrinating
present participle
-
to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., especially to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.
- Synonyms:
- propagandize, brainwash
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to teach or inculcate.
-
to imbue with learning.
verb
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to teach (a person or group of people) systematically to accept doctrines, esp uncritically
-
rare to impart learning to; instruct
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
indoctrinatesimple
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indoctrinatessimple
-
have indoctrinatedperfect
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has indoctrinatedperfect
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am indoctrinatingprogressive
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are indoctrinatingprogressive
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is indoctrinatingprogressive
-
have been indoctrinatingperfect progressive
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has been indoctrinatingperfect progressive
Past
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indoctrinatedsimple
-
had indoctrinatedperfect
-
was indoctrinatingprogressive
-
were indoctrinatingprogressive
-
had been indoctrinatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of indoctrinate
First recorded in 1620–30; in- 2 + Medieval Latin doctrīnātus, past participle of doctrīnāre “to teach”; see doctrine, -ate 1
Explanation
If you indoctrinate someone, you teach that person a one-sided view of something and ignore or dismiss opinions that don’t agree with your view. Cults, political entities, and even fans of particular sports teams are often said to indoctrinate their followers. If you indoctrinate someone, the goal is to have that person follow a particular set of beliefs (or a doctrine), rather than being able to think independently or know right from wrong. For example, a child may be indoctrinated into a life of violence by growing up in a war-torn region, or a student may be indoctrinated into a life as a Marxist by an influential political science professor.
Vocabulary lists containing indoctrinate
Grade 11, List 2
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1984
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Shout
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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.
See Examples For:
"Smartphones are now part and parcel of the way North Korea tries to indoctrinate people", says Mr Williams.
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
In the film, Gosling’s Ken — Barbie’s anxiety-ridden, try-hard, beta-status boyfriend — is revitalized by the patriarchy of the real world and returns to indoctrinate everyone in Barbieland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
Now he’s emerged as a particularly vocal Muslim advocate against what he calls an attempt to indoctrinate children.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2023
“The purpose is not to indoctrinate them or guide them in some kind of political philosophy. … The story is so much more complex than simply White people versus Black people,” Higginbotham said.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2022
These metaphysical terms are of no use, save to indoctrinate simpletons, who do not suspect that the same proposition can be construed, indifferently and at will, analytically or synthetically.
From System of Economical Contradictions; or, the Philosophy of Misery by P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph) Proudhon
"That's how manipulative it is - it indoctrinates you."
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2025
I'm thinking about the jurisprudence that, even more directly if more subtly, has expanded First Amendment protections of the commercial speech that indoctrinates us, 24/7, to embrace narrow, self-interested strategies of "self-improvement" and protection.
From Salon ● May 29, 2022
There is so much literature and culture that indoctrinates all humans, and the disempowered, to repress their justified rage and righteous anger.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2018
No one indoctrinates when he is under observation.
From Time Magazine Archive
The boys of the ship are taking lessons, in knotting, and splicing, and listening to the “yarn” of some old salt, as he indoctrinates them in these mysteries.
From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Raphael Semmes
Again the U.S. hit a brick wall called Europe and a team of players for whom the World Cup assignment is an indoctrinated dream from Day One.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Once a viewer is indoctrinated, however, they may find it difficult to refrain from puzzling over its message.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
“We’re all indoctrinated into thinking that there’s nothing more important than autonomy, but it’s a very mixed blessing,” says Schwartz.
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2024
I’ve often joked I was the perfect age to be indoctrinated.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2024
But on this expedition he had been cast in the role of invincible guide, there to look after me and the other clients; we had been specifically indoctrinated not to question our guides’ judgment.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
The usual assumption is that professors are indoctrinating students, but that’s too simple.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
That includes indoctrinating new players into the Chiefs’ system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
As comments amass over time, eliciting upvotes and increasingly meta discourse, the recipe starts branching off into infinite variations — some small, some large — perhaps indoctrinating itself into some readers’ regular cooking repertoire.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2023
So whether the team rips off the proverbial Band-Aid by immediately indoctrinating Beniers in his envisioned future role will say plenty about this season’s goals.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2022
I dinna hauld wi' thae French indoctrinating pedants, that took to stick free opinions into a man as ye'd stick pins into a pincushion, to fa' out again the first shake.
From Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet An Autobiography by Thomas Hughes
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.
