ingrain

ingrain

verb

Definition of INGRAIN

1

to cause (as a person) to become filled or saturated with a certain quality or principle <the journalism professor has long ingrained his students with a deep respect for their chosen profession>

Synonyms endue (or indue), imbue, inculcate, ingrain (also engrain), inoculate, invest, steep, suffuse

Related Words animate, charge, enliven, invigorate, leaven; implant, instill, plant; impregnate, permeate, pervade, saturate; deluge, drown, fill, flood, inundate, overwhelm, submerge

Near Antonyms deprive, divest, strip; clear, empty; eliminate, remove, take away

2

to produce a vivid impression of <the third-world privation he had witnessed forever ingrained itself upon the young doctor's memory>

Synonyms brand, etch, impress, imprint, infix, ingrain (also engrain)

Related Words enroot, imbue, implant, inculcate, infuse, instill; fix, set, stamp

Near Antonyms blot out, erase, expunge, obliterate

3

to set solidly in or as if in surrounding matter <tried to ingrain traditional values in their children>

Synonyms bed, embed (also imbed), enroot, fix, impact, implant, ingrain (also engrain), lodge, root

Related Words imbue, infuse, instill; beat (into), drive (into); establish, place, put, settle, stick

Near Antonyms eliminate, eradicate; eject, expel; detach, disconnect, disengage, remove

Antonyms dislodge, root (out), uproot

Variants of INGRAIN

ingrain also engrain