verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To cause a quality to become part of someone's nature. transitive

   "It is important to instill discipline in a child at an early age."

2. 2
   fill, as with a certain quality wordnet
3. 3
   To pour in (medicine, for example) drop by drop. transitive
4. 4
   teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions wordnet
5. 5
   produce or try to produce a vivid impression of wordnet

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   enter drop by drop wordnet
7. 7
   impart gradually wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

impregnateimpressimpressinculcateingrainbeat into

Example

More examples

"We must instill patriotism into the young people of today."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin instillō.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.