adjective
-
(esp of a toenail) growing abnormally into the flesh
-
growing within or into
Etymology
Origin of ingrowing
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.
Patients are being warned not to clog up A&E with everyday niggles as NHS figures show thousands turned to hospitals for minor ailments such as hiccups and ingrowing toenails last winter.
From BBC • Dec. 3, 2025
“Mrs Rhoades’s ingrowing toenail has turned the corner,” says Gilbert over supper.
From The Guardian • Sep. 5, 2019
During his 13 years in Japan he seems to have relaxed only in circles of U.S. business and newspapermen similar to the ingrowing foreign groups of Shanghai's International Settlement.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Why perform operations if the patient is suffering less from a stomach ulcer than from an ingrowing mother-in-law?
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
D., a Housemaster pure and simple, urging the postponement of the Final House-Match, D.'s best bowler having contracted an ingrowing toe-nail.
From The Lighter Side of School Life by Hay, Ian
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.