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

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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
  • Basketball, softball and volleyball players are accustomed to pool play and double-elimination tournaments with multiple games in a day.
    Buddy Collings, The Orlando Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2026
  • The Milwaukee Brewers have grown accustomed to scoring runs without necessarily having much punch in their lineup.
    Steve Megargee, Chicago Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • Still haunted by her past nearly two decades later, Green finally decided to tell her own story.
    Stuart Miller, Oc Register, 15 Apr. 2026
  • One is haunted and the other has something else going on.
    Sarah Hutter, CNN Money, 15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • Lithium-ion batteries cannot be thrown in the trash, general recycling systems or in used battery recycling boxes.
    Greta Cross, USA Today, 18 Apr. 2026
  • Many alienated Tesla owners sold their vehicles in protest, leading to an influx of them on the used market, and therefore lower prices.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • The 41-acre Rubio Canyon Preserve, which sits about four miles northwest of Eaton Canyon, is regularly frequented by bears, mountain lions and deer passing to and from Angeles National Forest and the foothill landscape.
    Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2026
  • The killer picked up his targets at bars frequented by closeted businessmen, creating an atmosphere of secrecy that was compounded by the NYPD’s homophobia and indifference towards the victims.
    Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • The obligatory sanatoria are visited, the obligatory spa towns are frequented, the obligatory Freudian analyst is consulted.
    Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2026
  • However, only those who visited the website were able to select their meal.
    Judith Martin, Mercury News, 23 Apr. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Habituated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/habituated. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.

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