inwrought
Americanadjective
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worked in or closely combined with something.
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wrought or worked with something by way of decoration.
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Archaic. wrought or worked in, as a decorative pattern.
adjective
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worked or woven into material, esp decoratively
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rare blended with other things
Etymology
Origin of inwrought
Explanation
Inwrought is an archaic and literary adjective that describes decoration woven or worked into fabric, stonework, metalwork or other material. To understand inwrought, imagine goblets encrusted or inwrought with jewels, and garments inwrought with silver and gold. If inwrought makes you think of a Tolkein-esque fantasy world where magically empowered swords are wrought on Elven fires, good. Inwrought comes from the Middle English word for "work or make," and should conjure the early English history Tolkein drew on for inspiration. If the Middle English associations are leaving you cold, just remember inwrought by remembering the relationship between wrought, meaning "worked or made," and wright, which means "maker," as in a playwright, or "a maker of plays." Pretty soon inwrought's meaning will be inwrought into the fabric of your brain.
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.
A search for some identity that came with more inwrought despondence than he could manufacture out of his own gene pool?
From Salon • Apr. 18, 2011
The pansies are proud; but they show to me Their purple velvets from over the sea, With gold inwrought.
From Happy Days for Boys and Girls by Various
A noble thing in itself, a necessary vent, perhaps, for the untamed spirit's love of untrammelled motion but it was inwrought with dangers.
From The Preacher of Cedar Mountain A Tale of the Open Country by Seton, Ernest Thompson
To a great charm of style he adds selectiveness; in A Daughter of the Morning, the characterisation is inwrought, just as in A Boy's Marriage it is passionate.
From A Novelist on Novels by George, Walter Lionel
So inherent in his very structure, so inwrought in his conscious character, so deeply based, so cardinal, and so enduring and irreducible is this fourfoldness in Lincoln's inward life.
From Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits; A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians by Beardslee, Clark S.
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.
