ingratiate
verb
William Attwood
Did you know?
When you ingratiate yourself, you put yourself in someone’s good graces in order to gain their approval or favor. While the word ingratiate does not necessarily imply that your behavior is obsequious or otherwise improper, the word may be used disapprovingly by those who distrust your motives. The word entered English in the early 1600s from the combining of the Latin noun gratia, meaning “grace” or “favor,” with the English prefix in-. Gratia comes from the adjective gratus, meaning “pleasing, grateful.” Gratus has, over the centuries, ingratiated itself well with the English language as the ancestor of a whole host of words including gratuitous, congratulate, and grace.
Examples of ingratiate in a Sentence
Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 19 Mar. 2025
But this was something else: Inauguration seats closest to an incoming president tend to be reserved for a president’s family and figures in politics, and the tech executives on Trump’s dais have been hard at work ingratiating themselves into his universe.
—Damon Beres, The Atlantic, 20 Jan. 2025
Though his win-first, aggressive tactics didn’t ingratiate him to his team, Senna still won the Formula Ford series championship in his first year.
—Jake Kring-Schreifels, TIME, 29 Nov. 2024
The scene takes place in 2014, well away from the singularity of robot sentience, but at that point in Harrison’s compressed yet expansive drama, the idea of an artificial intelligence ingratiating itself into a human family already feels eerie.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 6 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ingratiate
Cite this Entry
“Ingratiate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ingratiate. Accessed 31 Mar. 2025.
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ingratiate
verb
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