Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To instruct in a body of doctrine or principles.
  • transitive verb To imbue with a partisan or ideological point of view.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To imbue with learning, or with a particular doctrine or principle; cause to hold as a doctrine or belief; instruct.

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

  • transitive verb To instruct in the rudiments or principles of learning, or of a branch of learning; to imbue with learning; to teach; -- often followed by in.
  • transitive verb To instruct in, or imbue with, doctrines, principles or ideologies, especially from a specific point of view which may be partisan or biased; to strongly press one's own point of view upon.

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

  • verb to teach with a biased , one-sided or uncritical ideology.
  • verb to brainwash.

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

  • verb teach doctrines to; teach uncritically

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • The word indoctrinate is quite often used to point out how the other group whose ideas are in opposition to one's own, are cloaking their motives as "proper" education; yet, in actuality, a certain amount of indoctrination is required in order to establish and maintain societal norms.

    Indoctrination? 2008

  • One reasons progressives oppose school choice is that the majority of school teachers are tilting toward a secular-statist point of view, and progressives treasure the opportunity to indoctrinate young minds (the code words for this in the debate are things like protecting the "shared experience" which sounds like indoctrination to me).

    Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » Respecting Individual Decision-Making 2005

  • CNN: Florida GOP chair: Obama trying to 'indoctrinate' children

    POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: September 03, 2009 2009

  • Florida GOP chair: Obama trying to 'indoctrinate' children

    Traficant released from prison 2009

  • Florida GOP chair: Obama trying to 'indoctrinate' children

    Florida GOP chair: Obama trying to 'indoctrinate' children 2009

  • Really, America: did you actually think that the President of the United States (of either party), would have used the occasion of a speech to the country's students as an attempt to "indoctrinate"???

    Florida GOP chair: WH 'redid the lesson plans' 2009

  • Well, yes, "indoctrinate" sounds bad, but it's also a word with a fairly concrete meaning, and it's hard to see why it shouldn't be applied to religious training of children.

    A California Ruling 2009

  • I hope every parent who was screaming "bloody murder" about the president trying to "indoctrinate" the school children tomorrow ... read the speech (which is now posted online), and feel absolutely ashamed and embarrassed that that jumped to such assumptions.

    Obama speech to school children: 'You make your own future' 2009

  • Well, yes, "indoctrinate" sounds bad, but it's also a word with a fairly concrete meaning, and it's hard to see why it shouldn't be applied to religious training of children.

    A California Ruling 2009

  • Republican Party of Florida says Obama will "indoctrinate" schoolchildren with "socialist ideology"

    PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter: Fact vs. fiction 2009

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    July 8, 2011