wean

[ ween ]

/ win /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR wean ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to accustom (a child or young animal) to food other than its mother's milk; cause to lose the need to suckle or turn to the mother for food.

to withdraw (a person, the affections, one's dependency, etc.) from some object, habit, form of enjoyment, or the like: The need to reduce had weaned us from rich desserts.

Verb Phrases

wean on, to accustom to; to familiarize with from, or as if from, childhood: a brilliant student weaned on the classics; suburban kids weaned on rock music.

RELATED WORDS

discourage, halt, remove, unaccustom

Nearby words

Origin of wean

before 1000; Middle English wenen, Old English wenian; cognate with Dutch wennen, German gewöhnen, Old Norse venja to accustom

Related formswean·ed·ness

[wee-nid-nis, weend-] /ˈwi nɪd nɪs, ˈwind-/, nounpost·wean·ing, adjectivepre·wean·ing, adjectiveun·weaned, adjective

Can be confusedwean ween

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for wean

“Since MGP whiskey is [more than] 80 percent of my revenues, it might be silly to wean myself off of that,” Perkins says.
Your ‘Craft’ Rye Whiskey Is Probably From a Factory Distillery in Indiana|Eric Felten|July 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The court postponed execution of the sentence, to give her time to recover from childbirth and to wean the new baby.
In Sudan a Pregnant Woman May Be Hanged for Marrying a Christian|Nina Shea|May 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Direct payments came into being in 1996, originally as an effort to wean farmers off of direct government subsides altogether.
Why Don't We Eliminate Farm Subsidies?|Justin Green|April 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But it was Carter who first crusaded for the U.S. to wean itself off of its dependence on oil.
Carter in Oscarland: The Rehabilitation of the 39th President|Douglas Brinkley|February 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST

“I was trying to wean him off,” Murray said to the detectives.
The Fight Over Jackson's Health|Diane Dimond|October 12, 2011|DAILY BEAST
It was impossible to wean him from his little rules, and the world must follow his lead—or live elsewhere.
Sonia Between two Worlds|Stephen McKenna
They are chastened to wean them from the world, and make them partakers of God's holiness.
Practical Religion|John Charles Ryle
You have suffered yourself to be deluded by the whisperings of that feeling whose tendency was to wean your soul from Heaven.
Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf|George W. M. Reynolds
His soul summoned home the true God into his joy to come; but the evil doers will, I wean, late be from torments called.
The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson|Saemund Sigfusson and Snorre Sturleson
He wished to write novels that should wean the young from the foolish romances of his day.
Old and New London|Walter Thornbury

British Dictionary definitions for wean (1 of 2)

wean

/ (wiːn) /

verb (tr)

to cause (a child or young mammal) to replace mother's milk by other nourishment

(usually foll by from) to cause to desert former habits, pursuits, etc

Derived Formsweaning, noun

Word Origin for wean

Old English wenian to accustom; related to German gewöhnen to get used to

British Dictionary definitions for wean (2 of 2)

wean

/ (weɪn, wiːn) /

noun

Scot and Northern English dialect a child; infant

Word Origin for wean

a contraction of wee ane or perhaps a shortened form of weanling

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for wean

wean

Old English wenian "to accustom," from Proto-Germanic *wanjanan (cf. Old Norse venja, Dutch wennen, Old High German giwennan, German gewöhnen "to accustom"), from *wanaz "accustomed" (related to wont). The sense of weaning a child from the breast in Old English was generally expressed by gewenian or awenian, which has a sense of "unaccustom" (cf. German abgewöhnen, entwöhnen "to wean," literally "to unaccustom"). The prefix subsequently wore off. Figurative extension to any pursuit or habit is from 1520s.

Medicine definitions for wean

wean

[ wēn ]

v.

To deprive permanently of breast milk and begin to nourish with other food.

To accustom the young of a mammal to take nourishment other than by suckling.

To gradually withdraw from a life-support system.