ingrain
/ɪŋˈɡɹeɪn/
ingrain verb: to dye with a fast or lasting colour.
Verb
ingrain (third-person singular simple present ingrains, present participle ingraining, simple past and past participle ingrained)
Adjective
ingrain (not comparable)
- Dyed with grain, or kermes.
- Dyed before manufacture; said of the material of a textile fabric.
- Thoroughly inwrought; forming an essential part of the substance.
- When were such changes ever made in men's natural relations to one another: when was such reconcilement of ingrain differences ever effected!1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, 1st book (Poverty), page 249
Noun
ingrain (plural ingrains)
- An ingrain fabric, such as a carpet.
Synonyms of ingrain
Forms of ingrain
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | ingrains |
| present participle | ingraining |
| past participle | ingrained |
| past | ingrained |
| alternative form | engrain |
| Noun | |
| plural | ingrains |
Origin of ingrain
Inherited from Middle English engreynen, from the French phrase en grain; reinforced by the phrase (dyed) in grain. See grain.
Words formed from ingrain
Phrases with ingrain
Words that rhyme with ingrain
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
Questions about ingrain
- What does ingrain mean?
- Ingrain means to dye with a fast or lasting colour.
- What part of speech is ingrain?
- Ingrain can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ingrain?
- Ingrain is pronounced /ɪŋˈɡɹeɪn/.
- What is the past tense of ingrain?
- The past tense of ingrain is ingrained.
Words near ingrain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ingrain (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ingrain.wav.
Cite this entry: “ingrain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ingrain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.