Word.ws English Dictionary

inburn

inburn verb: to burn in; burn or affect as to make a permanent or lasting impression or mark.

Verb

inburn (third-person singular simple present inburns, present participle inburning, simple past and past participle inburned)

  1. (transitive) To burn in; burn or affect as to make a permanent or lasting impression or mark.
    • Nicias has written upon this picture that he 'inburned' it, [...]1879, John Henry Parker, The Archaeology of Rome
    • The habits of their fathers and their own early years have been so deeply inburned that they have not yet come to appreciate the value and convenience of modern toilets.1902, American Institute of Homeopathy, American Institute of Homeopathy, Transactions of the fifty-seventh session of the American Institute
  2. (intransitive) To burn within.
    • Of life complete — the outer rays / That show what fire of love inburns, [...]1888, William James McClure, Poems: religious and miscellaneous

Forms of inburn

third-person singular presentinburns
present participleinburning
past participleinburned
pastinburned

Origin of inburn

From Middle English *inbernen, *inbrennen, from Old English *inbiernan, *inbærnan, suggested by Old English inbryne (“fire, burning”) and inbærnednes (“burning, incense”), equivalent to in- + burn. Compare Old English onbiernan (“to be burning”). Cognate with Dutch inbranden (“to burn”), German einbrennen (“to burn”).

Words formed from inburn

Questions about inburn

What does inburn mean?
Inburn means to burn in; burn or affect as to make a permanent or lasting impression or mark.
What part of speech is inburn?
Inburn is a verb.
What is the past tense of inburn?
The past tense of inburn is inburned.

Words near inburn in the dictionary

  1. inbrought
  2. inbuild
  3. inbuilding
  4. inbuilds
  5. inbuilt
  6. inburn
  7. inburning
  8. inburns
  9. inburnt
  10. inburst
  11. inbursting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inburn (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “inburn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inburn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.