ingrained
Americanadjective
-
firmly fixed; deep-rooted; inveterate.
ingrained superstition.
-
wrought into or through the grain or fiber.
adjective
-
deeply impressed or instilled
his fears are deeply ingrained
-
(prenominal) complete or inveterate; utter
an ingrained fool
-
(esp of dirt) worked into or through the fibre, grain, pores, etc
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ingrained
Explanation
Use the adjective ingrained to describe the strong beliefs of someone who has thought that way for a very long time, such as the ingrained patriotism of a 20-year military veteran. Ingrained comes from the word grain, which in late Middle English referred to a certain kind of dye. This type of dye was indelible — unable to be removed — much like ingrained beliefs that are so firmly fixed that they'll never change.
Vocabulary lists containing ingrained
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Bless Me, Ultima
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Vocabulary from texts about Colin Powell
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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.
Do you have a theory for why this public passivity is so ingrained?
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
Telegram nonetheless remains deeply ingrained in Russia’s online life and soldiers at the front still struggle without using the app on the front, which has posed operational dangers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The Federal Reserve views the lingering survival of the check as a matter of deeply ingrained consumer habit.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Cleanliness and cleaning up after oneself in public places is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
He’d referred to Assef as “Agha,” and I wondered briefly what it must be like to live with such an ingrained sense of one’s place in a hierarchy.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
