instills

present tense third-person singular of instill
as in plants
to set permanently in the consciousness or mind-set a charismatic leader who instilled in his followers a passionate commitment to the cause

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 instills That’s why activating existing natural strengths not only boosts the leader’s self-confidence but also instills trust in the team. Gamze Acar Bayraktaroglu, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025 As Defense Secretary Dan Ogilvy (Pip Carter) is appointed as interim Prime Minister, Livingston deploys the military into the streets and instills a 24-hour media blackout. Randall Colburn, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2025 There’s a scene in a restaurant in which Sylvia, while reeling from the effects of a weed gummy, tries to unearth a few secrets from her friends, and the way Byrne instills her character’s false confidence into every inebriated gesture and slurred word is nothing short of stunning. Ben Travers, IndieWire, 6 Aug. 2025 Leguizamo instills Bob with a touching tenderness. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 22 Mar. 2025 This knowledge of your limits instills trust and collaboration, allowing others space to chip in with their own abilities. Melissa Sierra, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025 The school districts allege the companies designed their products in a way that encourages compulsive use, instills anxiety when users aren’t on the platform often enough and provides inadequate parental controls. Silas Allen, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Feb. 2025 One intervention program instills a love of learning and fosters self-esteem. Ogar Monday, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for instills
Verb
  • Plants growing in sandy soils may require more frequent irrigation, as will plants growing under intense sunlight.
    Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Today, the company plants a tree for every child born to a Zegna employee, donates flowerbeds in the Piazza Duomo in Milan and revitalizes public parks in Palm Beach and Boston, among other things.
    Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 23 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • That preparation breeds confidence.
    Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Though, who knows — again, desperation breeds all kinds of hitherto unknown talents.
    Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Anne Morrow Lindbergh embeds wisdom and meditations on age, love, peace, solitude and fulfillment within the relaxing, picturesque setting of the sea.
    Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2025
  • Splunk’s new approach embeds agentic AI directly into Splunk Observability Cloud and Splunk AppDynamics, which continuously analyzes telemetry, flags anomalies, diagnoses root causes and recommends fixes.
    Victor Dey, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Rising seas could swallow the land that roots our identity.
    Feleti Penitala Teo, Time, 22 Sep. 2025
  • In a strong culture, everyone roots their daily decisions in a desire to be in it to win it; there's a sense of ownership, pride and belonging.
    Alex Brueckmann, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Instills.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/instills. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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