inwrought
Americanadjective
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worked in or closely combined with something.
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wrought or worked with something by way of decoration.
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Archaic. wrought or worked in, as a decorative pattern.
adjective
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worked or woven into material, esp decoratively
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rare blended with other things
Etymology
Origin of inwrought
Explanation
Inwrought is an archaic and literary adjective that describes decoration woven or worked into fabric, stonework, metalwork or other material. To understand inwrought, imagine goblets encrusted or inwrought with jewels, and garments inwrought with silver and gold. If inwrought makes you think of a Tolkein-esque fantasy world where magically empowered swords are wrought on Elven fires, good. Inwrought comes from the Middle English word for "work or make," and should conjure the early English history Tolkein drew on for inspiration. If the Middle English associations are leaving you cold, just remember inwrought by remembering the relationship between wrought, meaning "worked or made," and wright, which means "maker," as in a playwright, or "a maker of plays." Pretty soon inwrought's meaning will be inwrought into the fabric of your brain.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A search for some identity that came with more inwrought despondence than he could manufacture out of his own gene pool?
From Salon • Apr. 18, 2011
The Mohawks have gone from us, indeed, leaving us only a memory, all inwrought in a thick array of Indian names.
From The Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha The Lily of the Mohawks by Walworth, Ellen H.
A noble thing in itself, a necessary vent, perhaps, for the untamed spirit's love of untrammelled motion but it was inwrought with dangers.
From The Preacher of Cedar Mountain A Tale of the Open Country by Seton, Ernest Thompson
Here is elemental personality, in inwrought and indivisible unity, with measureless capacity for versatility, easily blending fulness of vigor with complete repose, vestured and transfused with native symmetry and grace.
From Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits; A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians by Beardslee, Clark S.
Left to feel as it had never before felt, its own inwrought sinfulness and utter helplessness, it was borne down, crushed, only rising again to suffer anew, and again to sink.
From The Legendary and Poetical Remains of John Roby author of 'Traditions of Lancashire', with a sketch of his literary life and character by Roby, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
