Skip to main content
instilling

instilling

5.8
To teach someone an idea, habit, or belief by repeating it over time
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈstɪlɪŋ/
  • US
translation icon : inculcación
  • Parents play a crucial role in instilling values such as honesty and kindness in their children.

It's decades of instilling this, this obedience.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I mean, school is always about instilling the agreed upon values of the community.

  • But yes, we need to be instilling values that lead to self discovery and self improvement.

  • This is your last shot to start instilling some respect and some discipline in them.

  • It's decades of instilling this, this obedience.

  • What I have learnt is the importance of cultural values instilling in them when they're very young.

  • Our ideals and our values can be learned, but instilling them into our character that's earned their practice.

  • The teacher focused on instilling a love for reading in her students through daily book sessions.

  • Community programs aim at instilling civic responsibility among young people through volunteer work.

Synonyms

inculcation
vsinstilling
  • Formal
1 8.7

Teaching something again and again so people learn it

is the more general gradual way of teaching by repetition
ingraining
vsinstilling
7.4

Teaching something again and again so it becomes part of the mind

is gradual teaching that emphasizes steady repetition rather than firm entrenchment

How Strong

inculcation
  • Formal
1 8.7
instilling
  • US
5.8
teaching
572 1.0
suggestion
759 1.4

Surface Forms

instilling singular
instillings plural

Morphology

instilling = instill (transparent) = instill + ing

Formed by adding the productive gerund/nominalizing suffix '-ing' to the verb 'instill', so the meaning 'the act of instilling' is directly derived.

Etymology

Instilling comes from Latin parts in- 'into' and stillare 'to drip'. Think of putting an idea into someone drop by drop, like the same root in distill, so to instill means to teach or build a habit slowly and steadily.