Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Firmly and long established; deep-rooted.
  • adjective Persisting in an ingrained habit; habitual: synonym: chronic.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make inveterate; render chronic; establish by force of habit.
  • Old; long established.
  • Firmly established by long continuance; deep-rooted; obstinate: generally, though not always, in a derogatory sense: as, an inveterate disease; an inveterate enemy.
  • Confirmed in any habit; having habits fixed by long continuance: applied to persons: as, an inveterate smoker.
  • Malignant; virulent; showing obstinate prejudice.
  • Synonyms Deep-seated, chronic.
  • Habitual, hardened.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Old; long-established.
  • adjective Firmly established by long continuance; obstinate; deep-rooted; of long standing
  • adjective Having habits fixed by long continuance; confirmed; habitual.
  • adjective Malignant; virulent; spiteful.
  • transitive verb obsolete To fix and settle by long continuance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Old; firmly established by long continuance; of long standing; obstinately deep-rooted; as, an inveterate disease; an inveterate habit.
  • adjective of a person Having habits fixed by long continuance; confirmed; habitual; as, an inveterate idler or smoker.
  • adjective Malignant; virulent; spiteful.
  • verb obsolete To fix and settle by long continuance; to entrench.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in a habitual and longstanding manner
  • adjective habitual

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin inveterātus, past participle of inveterārī, to grow old, endure : in-, causative pref.; see in– + vetus, veter-, old; see wet- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin inveteratus ("of long standing, chronic"), form of inveterare, from in- ("in, into") + veterare ("to age"), from vetus, form of veteris ("old"); latter ancestor to veteran.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Pat is an inveterate gym goer irrespective of any weather condition.

    February 15, 2013

  • A rhymer should be fairly literate

    And rewriting must be inveterate

    To polish and shine

    And tune every line

    Until the damned verses are better writ.

    September 24, 2017