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inwrought

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.

Definitions of inwrought
  1. adjective
    having a decorative pattern worked or woven in
    “an inwrought design”
    synonyms:
    adorned, decorated
    provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘inwrought'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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Thanks, Donna Tartt, for Weaving in "Inwrought"

In the first sentences of her new, highly-acclaimed novel The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt uses the uncommon inwrought to conjure a mood of creepy fairy tale isolation.

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