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ingrain

verb
variants: also engrain

Synonyms and Antonyms 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 of ingrain

endue (or indue), imbue, inculcate, infuse, inoculate, invest, steep, suffuse
Words Related to ingrain

animate, charge, enliven, invigorate, leaven

implant, instill, plant

impregnate, permeate, pervade, saturate

deluge, drown, fill, flood, inundate, overwhelm, submerge
Near Antonyms of ingrain

deprive, divest, strip

clear, empty

eliminate, remove, take away
2 to produce a vivid impression of
  • The privation he had witnessed forever ingrained itself upon the young doctor's memory.
Synonyms of ingrain

brand, engrave, etch, impress, imprint, infix
Words Related to ingrain

enroot, imbue, implant, inculcate, infuse, instill

fix, set, stamp
Near Antonyms of ingrain

blot out, erase, expunge, obliterate
3 to set solidly in or as if in surrounding matter
  • The Browns tried to ingrain traditional values in their children.
Synonyms of ingrain

bed, embed (also imbed), enroot, entrench (also intrench), fix, impact, implant, lodge, root
Words Related to ingrain

imbue, infuse, instill

beat (into), drive (into)

establish, place, put, settle, stick
Near Antonyms of ingrain

eliminate, eradicate

eject, expel

detach, disconnect, disengage, remove
Antonyms of ingrain

dislodge, root (out), uproot

Synonym Discussion of ingrain

infuse, suffuse, imbue, ingrain, inoculate, leaven mean to introduce one thing into another so as to affect it throughout. infuse implies a pouring in of something that gives new life or significance.
    • new members infused enthusiasm into the club
suffuse implies a spreading through of something that gives an unusual color or quality.
    • a room suffused with light
imbue implies the introduction of a quality that fills and permeates the whole being.
    • imbue students with intellectual curiosity
ingrain, used only in the passive or past participle, suggests the deep implanting of a quality or trait.
    • clung to ingrained habits
inoculate implies an imbuing or implanting with a germinal idea and often suggests stealth or subtlety.
    • an electorate inoculated with dangerous ideas
leaven implies introducing something that enlivens, tempers, or markedly alters the total quality.
    • a serious play leavened with comic moments

ingrain

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of ingrain

being a part of the innermost nature of a person or thing
  • an ingrain skepticism that saves him from falling for every hoax that comes along
Synonyms of ingrain

built-in, constitutional, constitutive, essential, hardwired, immanent, inborn, inbred, indigenous, ingrained (also engrained), inherent, innate, integral, intrinsic, native, natural
Words Related to ingrain

basic, deep-rooted, elemental, fundamental

congenital, hereditary, inherited, inmost, inner, interior

internal

characteristic, distinctive, peculiar

habitual, inveterate

normal, regular, typical
Phrases Synonymous with ingrain

in one's blood
Near Antonyms of ingrain

alien, foreign

accidental, coincidental, incidental

acquired

superficial, surface

exterior, external
Antonyms of ingrain

adventitious, extraneous, extrinsic

Learn More about ingrain

  1. See words that rhyme with ingrain Dictionary: Definition of ingrain Britannica English: Translation of ingrain for Arabic speakers

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