1. Firmly established; deep-seated: ingrained prejudice; the ingrained habits of a lifetime.
2. Worked deeply into the texture or fiber: a carpet disfigured by ingrained dirt.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.