embedded
The adjective embedded describes something that is encased in a surrounding substance. On a walking tour of Fredericksburg, Virginia, you can see buildings with embedded Civil War cannonballs.
Embedded also means to insert as part of a whole. In wartime, embedded journalists are stationed with military units so that they can make first-hand reports on the news, and so that viewers can have a more in-depth understanding of issues facing the soldiers. This use arose during the Iraq war in 2003. Embedded comes from the verb embed, which originally applied to materials embedded in rocks, such as fossils.
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enclosed firmly in a surrounding mass“found pebbles embedded in the silt”“stone containing many embedded fossils”“peach and plum seeds embedded in a sweet edible pulp”synonyms:enclosedclosed in or surrounded or included within
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inserted as an integral part of a surrounding whole“confused by the embedded Latin quotations”“an embedded subordinate clause”synonyms:integratedformed into a whole or introduced into another entity
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Vocabulary lists containing embedded
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Words included in the 2009 and 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests of fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade vocabulary. Read about the test here.
Conscripted by the army at the age of 13, Ishmael Beah was forced to fight in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. In this memoir, Beah shines a light on the experiences of child soldiers.