instill
(British instil)
/icons/point.icon IMPLANT, INCULCATE, INSTILL, INSEMINATE, INFIX mean to introduce into the mind.
IMPLANT implies teaching that makes for permanence of what is taught.
e.g. implanted a love of reading in her students
INCULCATE implies persistent or repeated efforts to impress on the mind.
e.g. tried to inculcate in him high moral standards
INSTILL stresses gradual, gentle imparting of knowledge over a long period of time.
e.g. instill traditional values in your children
INSEMINATE applies to a sowing of ideas in many minds so that they spread through a class or nation.
e.g. inseminated an unquestioning faith in technology
INFIX stresses firmly inculcating a habit of thought.
e.g. infixed a chronic cynicism
verb with object
1. gradually but firmly establish (an idea or attitude, especially a desirable one) in a person's mind:
【人(の心)に】〈感情･観念など〉を徐々に教え込む, しみ込ませる «in, into» ; 【考えなどを】〈人〉に徐々に植え付ける «with»
e.g. how do we instill a sense of rightness in today's youth?
2. put (a substance) into something in the form of liquid drops:
e.g. she was told how to instill eye drops.
DERIVATIVES
instillation |ˌinstəˈlāSH(ə)n| noun
instillment (British instilment) noun
ORIGIN
late Middle English (in instill (sense 2)): from Latin instillare, from in- ‘into’ + stillare ‘to drop’ (from stilla ‘a drop’).