inveterate

From Latin inveterātus (“of long standing, chronic”), form of inveterare, from in- (“in, into”) + veterare (“to age”), from vetus, genitive veteris (“old”).

Cognate to Italian inveterato.

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛtəɹɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɛtəɹɪt
• Hyphenation: in‧vet‧er‧ate

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inveterate (comparative more inveterate, superlative most inveterate)

1. firmly established from having been around for a long time; of long standing

   an inveterate disease

   an inveterate habit

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 3, Manchester Insurrection”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem):

     a Heaven's radiance of justice, prophetic, clearly of Heaven, discernible behind all these confused worldwide entanglements, of Landlord interests, Manufacturing interests, Tory-Whig interests, and who knows what other interests, expediencies, vested interests, established possessions, inveterate Dilettantisms, Midas-eared Mammonism.

   • 1911, Morrison I. Swift, “Humanizing the Prisons,”, in The Atlantic:

     In Montpelier, where this prison stands, the inveterate prejudice against prisoners has been swept away.

2. (of a person) Having had a habit for a long time

   an inveterate idler

   an inveterate smoker

   an inveterate traveller

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 100–101:

     "Say no more," interrupted Henrietta: "the very mention of that inveterate gossip accounts for every thing. Do let me, my dear Mrs. Courtenaye," and she took her hand with a kindness that was irresistible, "let me warn you against allowing your happiness to be the sport of a woman like that;...

   • 1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “chapter 45”, in Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:

     [S]he offered kisses to a stranger so confidingly that the most inveterate bachelor relented.

   • 2017, Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, New York: Picador, →ISBN, page 6:

     Like many lonely people, he was an inveterate hoarder, making and surrounding himself with objects, barriers against the demands of human intimacy.

3. Malignant; virulent; spiteful.
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of morals, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 15:

     A man of mild manners can form no idea of inveterate revenge or cruelty […]

   • 1765–70, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality; or, The History of Henry, Earl of Moreland

     This his lordship perused with a countenance, and scrutiny, apparently inveterate.

• deep-rooted, ingrained, ineradicable, radicated, hardened, chronic

• casual
• transient

• inveteracy
• inveterately

inveterate (third-person singular simple present inveterates, present participle inveterating, simple past and past participle inveterated)

1. (obsolete) To fix and settle after a long time; to entrench.
   • 1622, Francis Bacon, The History of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh:

     "the vulgar conceived that now there was an end given, and a consummation to superstitious prophecies, the belief of fools, but the talk sometimes of wise men, and to an ancient tacit expectation which had by tradition been infused and inveterated into men's minds."

   • 1640, Edward Dacres, translation of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, Chapter XIX [1]:

     "none of these Princes do use to maintaine any armies together, which are annex'd and inveterated with the governments of the provinces, as were the armies of the Roman Empire. "

   • 1851 January, author unknown, "The Philosophy of the American Union, in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, page 16:

     "The foregoing elements of disunion are inveterated by the constituent formation of our national legislature. In the French chambers the members are all Frenchmen ; but our members of Congress are effectively Georgians, New-Yorkers, Carolinians, Pennsylvanians, &c."

• inveteration

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “inveterate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “inveterate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Everettian, entreative

inveterate

1. feminine plural of inveterato

• eternatevi, ritenevate

inveterāte

1. vocative masculine singular of inveterātus