habituated 1 of 2

Definition of habituatednext
as in accustomed
being in the habit or custom not only did the early-morning anchorman become habituated to getting up early, he found he actually liked it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

habituated

2 of 2

verb

past tense of habituate

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of habituated
Adjective
This orangutan is well habituated and sometimes come to a nearby feeding station for food. New Atlas, 29 Mar. 2026 As the residential community around Lake Tahoe has grown, bears have been pushed further uphill and become habituated to human food. Madison Chapman, Outside, 25 Mar. 2026 Over the years, individual dingoes deemed too habituated to humans have been euthanized, in consultation with the Butchulla people. Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 24 Jan. 2026 In October, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, with help from federal conservation officials, killed four wolves from the Beyem Seyo pack, which had become unusually habituated to preying on cattle from ranches in Sierra Valley. Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 6 Jan. 2026 But the study authors claim that the process begins much earlier, when animals become habituated to human environments. Marina Wang, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2025 Using long-term dietary data of habituated chimpanzees from each of the two field sites, the researchers found that chimpanzees consume about 14 grams of pure ethanol per day of foraging, Dudley said. Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Sep. 2025 The cats have become habituated to the sounds of vehicles, and six jaguars are presently collared and tracked, making their entire life stories visible to researchers. Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Aug. 2025
Verb
In some cases, DEEP said loud noises are not effective at scaring away bears, especially ones that have already been habituated. Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 11 Mar. 2026 With active conflicts in many parts of the world such as Russia-Ukraine, Pakistan-Afghanistan, and in the Middle East, or humanitarian disaster as in Somalia, the people and states in the world are becoming increasingly war-habituated. Debidatta A. Mahapatra, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Mar. 2026 The process of learning to suppress a response to the rewarding stimulus happens at the level of the reward system—there is a decrease in the size of the dopamine release caused by a particular reward cue once the circuit has become habituated. Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026 But last year, one of the state’s 10 resurgent wolf packs became unusually habituated to hunting and eating livestock instead of wild prey. Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 6 Feb. 2026 Even Americans who have grown habituated to Trump’s excesses have been shaken by these killings and the reflexively cruel and dishonest response from the administration. Hillary Rodham Clinton, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2026 In fact, they’d merely been habituated, the way a bird learns to ignore a rhino. AFAR Media, 30 Oct. 2025 These sediments, the researchers observed, had low bacterial diversity compared to other surrounding sediments, and the bacteria came from families habituated to alkaline environments, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents or alkaline hot springs. Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 9 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for habituated
Adjective
  • The candidate has become accustomed to comical mailroom interactions with his neighbors, who are routinely delivered fliers emblazoned with his face.
    Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 7 May 2026
  • The dragons had become accustomed to the grisly ritual.
    Craig Stanford, Big Think, 7 May 2026
Verb
  • Diamond wrote this waltz-time weeper with Carole Bayer Sager, who beat him to the punch with her own recording; his version is haunted, hers downright macabre.
    Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2026
  • Detroit played with confidence and clarity, while Orlando looked like a team still haunted by what had happened 48 hours earlier.
    Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 4 May 2026
Adjective
  • So for many middle-class Americans, the choice is between a dangerous amount of debt or no new car at all — which has, in turn, sent prices for used cars soaring.
    Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 May 2026
  • Drivers and pedestrians are so used to cyclists that very few bikers even wear helmets.
    Doug Turnbull, AJC.com, 10 May 2026
Verb
  • But now, many of them are past their prime, becoming as old and gray as the generations that once frequented them.
    Audrey Pachuta, Chicago Tribune, 9 May 2026
  • Deb and Jackman frequented the event several times together before making their final appearance as a couple at the 2023 Met Gala.
    Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 7 May 2026
Verb
  • Because the games are varied on each visit, the location has already seen repeat guests since opening in March, including one family that has visited at least half a dozen times.
    Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 May 2026
  • George Christenson, the county clerk, said an FBI agent visited the home of the county's elections director and left a business card.
    Jacob Rosen, CBS News, 14 May 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Habituated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/habituated. Accessed 16 May. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on habituated

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster