Word of the Day Archive
Sunday January 30, 2000
inveterate \in-VET-uhr-it\
, adjective:
1. Firmly established by long persistence; deep-rooted; of long standing.
2. Fixed in habit by long persistence; confirmed; habitual.
In Montpelier, where this prison stands, the inveterate prejudice against prisoners has been swept away.
-- Morrison I. Swift, "Humanizing the Prisons", The Atlantic, August 1911
He is an inveterate nibbler, popping nuts and chocolate into his mouth as he talks, leaning forward in his chair to forage in the tins with his right hand.
-- Michael Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin: A Life
I was an inveterate museum-goer from the age of fourteen, when I'd take the trolley to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts after school and wander the halls of Greek antiquities.
-- Jane Alexander, Command Performance
Inveterate is from the past participle of Latin inveterari, "to grow old, to endure," from in- + vetus, veter-, "old." It is related to veteran, "one who is long experienced in some activity or capacity; an old soldier of long service; one who has served in the armed forces." The noun form is inveteracy or inveterateness.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for inveterate
