Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To bring (oneself, for example) into the favor or good graces of another, especially by deliberate effort: She quickly sought to ingratiate herself with the new administration.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To establish in the confidence, favor, or good graces of another; make agreeable or acceptable: used reflexively, and followed by with.
- To introduce by exciting gratitude or good will; insinuate or recommend by acceptable conduct or sentiments: absolute or with into.
- To recommend.
- To bring into a state of grace.
Wiktionary
- v. reflexive to bring oneself into favour with someone by flattering or trying to please them.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To introduce or commend to the favor of another; to bring into favor; to insinuate; -- used reflexively, and followed by
with before the person whose favor is sought. - v. obsolete To recommend; to render easy or agreeable; -- followed by
to . - v. rare To gain favor.
WordNet 3.0
- v. gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts
Etymologies
- First attested in 1622. From Italian ingraziare, which from ingratiare, which from in gratia, which from Latin in grātiam (into favour), which from grātus. (Wiktionary)
- Perhaps from Italian ingraziare, from in grazia, into favor, from Latin in grātiam : in, in; see in-2 + grātiam, accusative of grātia, favor (from grātus, pleasing; see gwerə-2 in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It's doubtful that Spenser or Milton thought that this audience would consist of readers for whom they needed to slavishly "ingratiate" themselves in advance.”
“Yehuda has put his finger on the key word: "ingratiate".”
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
“- CNNVINA GUPTAThe frontrunner for the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election, Hillary Clinton, has been hit by a legal dispute in which one of her fundraisers is accused of trying to "ingratiate" himself with powerful friends at the expense of his company.”
“ingratiate" himself with high-ranking people in the Government of”
“And the whole bunch of folks you imitate as well as most of the folk you ingratiate yourself with, are missing, male as well as female.”
TOC: The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF edited by Mike Ashley
“Now we must invade people's homes and ingratiate ourselves with them.”
The Huffington Post: Charles M. Firestone: Egypt: The King's Speech Where Everyone Is King
“They wish there were guidelines for dealing with photographers who ingratiate themselves with celebrities by creating the most polished of shots.”
The Guardian: Supermodel Erin O'Connor slams fashion world for lying to women
“They also bend their knees to ingratiate themselves to the people who hate Israel.”
Matthew Yglesias » Foxman: Mitchell is “Fair” and I’m Unhappy About It
“Regarding the “list of things we need to change” in this country, I never thought, “having Democrats make nice and ingratiate themselves with Republican op-ed columnists” was on the list.”
“Having won over Uefa's president, Michel Platini, from his standing start as a former politician – not the most beloved profession of Fifa executive-committee members – Triesman attempted to ingratiate himself with the rest of the committee.”
The Guardian: Sir Roy Gardner and co-investors spent £3m in support for doomed Pilgrims
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ingratiate’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 185 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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Naresh_Gre2
convoke, cosset, coterie, declaim, distaff, doff, dovetail, droll, dyspeptic, egress, ersatz, euphemism and 108 more...
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GRE
droll, dyspeptic, ebullient, ardor, edify, efficacy, malinger, mannered, martinet, maudlin, mendacious, mendicant and 102 more...
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Summers Vocabulary # 2
jejune, ingratiate, congruent, cryptic, beleaguer, tangential, impregnable, predilection, surly, dolorous, untoward, renege
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apjoseph's words
insurmountable, ubiquitous, unequivocal, incumbent, asinine, amenable, sycophants, precarious, malevolent, gregarious, raison detra, nefarious and 200 more...
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Good for Academics
Gahh!! Study!
supplant, usurp, finagle, winnow, draconian, abut, collude, swindle, objectify, incite, decadent, obstinate and 327 more...
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Vocabulary Words 2.
cow tow, evident, harassed, egalitarians, anomolous, tenuous, fondly, foment, construe, ingratiate, parlance, spectacular and 96 more...
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Ritual
Interpreting Ritual / Lincoln
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL I
iconoclast, idiosyncrasy, ignoble, ignominious, illicit, illusory, illustrious, imbibe, imbue, immaculate, immaterial, immolate and 155 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
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Wordwild's Delights
Delightful words to read and use
plangent, ribald, titubant, sidereal, pelagic, improvident, dolorous, parlous, baleful, precatory, pied, mephitic and 247 more...
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1st cut
abeyance, abscission, abyss, accretion, acidulous, adulterate, adumbrate, aerie, ameliorate, anachoronistic, analgesia, anodyne and 315 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ingratiate.
jwjarvis victory went to those doctors best able to ingratiate themselves with key players in the leadership Sep 14, 2010