What does "hidebound" mean?
Bound with the hide of an animal.
Hidebound
adj
adj ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Bound with the hide of an animal.
- Grammar: hidebound is listed as adj.
- Nearest alternatives: authoritarian, backward, bigot, bigoted.
- Useful contrasts: flexible, liberal, open-minded.
- Usage evidence: He was hidebound and refused to change his approach.
How to use "hidebound"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hidebound" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hidebound" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hidebound" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hidebound" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hidebound" is acting as adj in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "authoritarian" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hidebound", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Bound with the hide of an animal.
"Open the box in which his large hidebound book is kept. The faint smell of manure, over 150 years old, still rises from thick yellowing pages, and you begin to live his life."
- 2 Having the skin adhering so closely to the ribs and back as not to be easily loosened or raised; emaciated.
"Some of the horses were looking hidebound, and I promised the sergeant that I'd buy a couple of hundredweight of linseed for them when I went on leave. Linseed was a cosy idea; it reminded me of peacetime conditions."
- 3 Having the bark so close and constricting that it impedes the growth.
"It hath been observed that hacking of trees in their bark, both downright, and across, so as you make them rather in slices than in continued hacks, doth great good to trees; and especially delivereth them from being hide-bound, and killeth their moss."
- 4 Stubborn; narrow-minded; inflexible. figuratively
"And how can a man teach with autority, which is the life of teaching, how can he be a Doctor in his book as he ought to be, or else had better be silent, whenas all he teaches, all he delivers, is but under the tuition, under the correction of his patriarchal licencer to blot or alter what precisely accords not with the hidebound humor which he calls his judgement."
- 5 Niggardly; penurious; stingy. obsolete
"1644-1646, Francis Quarles, Boanerges and Barnabas hath my purse been hidebound to my hungry brother?"
Adjective
- 1 stubbornly conservative and narrow-minded wordnet
Example
"He was hidebound and refused to change his approach."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hidebound"?
Common synonyms include: authoritarian, backward, bigot, bigoted, borne, censorious.
How do you use "hidebound" in a sentence?
He was hidebound and refused to change his approach.
Etymology
From hide (“animal skin”, noun) + bound (“tied”, adjective).