INSTIL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Instil

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verb

instil v. t. Same as instill.

Synonyms: instill.

Instill v. t. (past & past part. instilled; pres. part. instilling) (Written also instil)

To drop in; to pour in drop by drop. "That starlight dews All silently their tears of love instill."

Specifically: To infuse (knowledge or attitudes) into the mind of another, slowly or gradually; to impart gradually; to cause to be imbibed. "How hast thou instilled Thy malice into thousands."

Synonyms: To infuse; impart; inspire; implant; inculcate; insinuate.

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Etymology of 'Instil'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Instil" Quotes from Famous Books

... nutriment that is to become part of yourself and remain in the core of your being to the end, hallowing and elevating your life with ever-increasing power? Not at the grammar school we trow. No school but one can instil that, where rules the one best teacher you will ever know, genius though you be—the school kept at your mother's knee. Such mothers as Watt had are the appointed trainers of genius, and make men good and great, if the needed spark be there to enkindle: "Kings ...

— James Watt • Andrew Carnegie

... first into the world, and all in the guise of goodness. For who ever would swallow a baitless hook? Who ever gained credence for a tale which had not some truth mingled with the false, or some little good overshadowing the bad? So, if whilst preaching I can instil one counsel of mine own among a hundred that are good and true, by means of that one, through heedlessness or superstition, will more weal betide your kingdom than woe through all the others ever." "Well," said Lucifer, ...

— The Visions of the Sleeping Bard • Ellis Wynne

... instil into all persons connected with the Department in your Division the importance of a harmonious working together for the good of the Service, and of each, in his own sphere, performing the duties assigned to him in an intelligent and ...

— General Instructions For The Guidance Of Post Office Inspectors In The Dominion Of Canada • Alexander Campbell

... day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instil is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,—that is genius. Speak your latent ...

— Essays, First Series • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... should have visiting cards is not so "silly" as might at first thought be supposed. To acquire perfect manners, and those graces of deportment that Lord Chesterfield so ardently tried to instil into his son, training can not begin early enough, since it is through lifelong familiarity with the niceties of etiquette that much of the distinction of those to ...

— Etiquette • Emily Post

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