Dictionary

bred-in-the-bone en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From the past participle of breed in the bone.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, of a habit, qualifier:trait; belief; trait; belief, usually) Firmly established or instilled; deep-seated.
   • But few could match the bred-in-the-bone exceptionalism rooted deep in America's self-image. 2008, Erna Paris, The Sun Climbs Slow: The International Criminal Court and the Struggle for Justice, Seven Stories Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 47:
   • Her navy had barely broken off its pursuit of the fleeing Spaniards, in fact, when Elizabeth exposed her bred-in-the-bone selfishness, her cold indifference to the well-being of the subjects whose supposed love for her she and the royal propagandists endlessly celebrated as one of the wonders of the age. 2010, G. J. Meyer, The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty, Bantam Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 522:
   • They had the kind of bred-in-the-bone manners that were unobtrusively the same for one and all. 1998, Judith Krantz, The Jewels of Tessa Kent, Bantam, published 1999, →ISBN, page 129:
2. (idiomatic, of a person) Inveterate or habitual; long-standing.
   • Critics see an unreasonable craving for authority in Newman's anti-liberalism. He was also a bred-in-the-bone Tory, and as the youthful leader of the Oxford Movement that sought a bulwark against Parliamentary manipulation of Anglicanism in its ancient Catholic roots, he could be savagely polemical. 2001 February 24, Peter Steinfels, “Beliefs; A 19th-century theologian whose questions remain pertinent to the Roman Catholic Church”, in The New York Times:
   • The point of this political genealogy is not only that Lawrence Cannon was a bred-in-the-bone Liberal, […] 2005, William Johnson, Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada, McClelland & Stewart, published 2006, →ISBN, page 433:
   • Antrim, bred-in-the-bone Republican conservative, has a proud patriotic tradition. 1982 March 17, Mary McGrory, “Arms Issue Joined At Grass Roots”, in Toledo Blade:

Forms

Relateds

breed in the bone · what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh

Synonyms

deep-seated (firmly established) · deep-rooted (firmly established) · dyed-in-the-wool (firmly established)