ingrate

noun

in·​grate ˈin-ˌgrāt How to pronounce ingrate (audio)
: an ungrateful person

Examples of ingrate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Just don’t act like an ingrate by twisting your face to clearly show your displeasure. Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2023 If my father is grateful, who am I, the ingrate, to say anything. Viet Thanh Nguyen, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2023 Even if doing so served only to save an ingrate from herself. Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2022 Nevertheless, in the summer of 1922 literary friends passed the hat to provide financing for the notorious ingrate’s next adventure. Colin Grant, The New York Review of Books, 5 Nov. 2020 No more high-revving VTEC four-cylinder and slick manual transmission for you ingrates, because—wait, hold on a moment. Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 15 May 2020 One of the most intriguing threads in the book concerns the woman’s ingrate of a daughter, to whom the Cheffe nonetheless kowtows, sending love in her child’s direction even when that child undermines her in every way. Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2019 Now hopefully some of you ingrates are going to make up for ruining my life by launching a GoFundMe page to pay my legal bills. Rex Huppke, chicagotribune.com, 15 July 2019 The league rolls on despite half of the country thinking its players are unpatriotic ingrates, and despite a Commissioner Who Couldn't Shoot Straight seeming hapless and helpless to make anything better. Greg Cote, miamiherald, 25 May 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ingrate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Latin ingratus ungrateful, from in- + gratus grateful — more at grace

First Known Use

1622, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of ingrate was in 1622

Dictionary Entries Near ingrate

Cite this Entry

“Ingrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ingrate. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

ingrate

noun
in·​grate ˈin-ˌgrāt How to pronounce ingrate (audio)
: an ungrateful person

More from Merriam-Webster on ingrate

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!