1(of dirt or a stain) deeply embedded and difficult to remove.
‘uniforms covered with ground-in dirt’
‘You might want to power wash it to remove the ground-in dirt.’
‘Use a power washer to remove the concrete dust and years of ground-in grime.’
‘Sandrine's gaze kept wandering back to his hands - wide, capable hands with long slender fingers, still elegant somehow under a ground-in patina of oil and dirt.’
‘Ground-in dirt and stains only get worse with time.’
‘Mounting wood cabinets on legs is especially important since they can sustain heavy damage from moisture, chemicals, and ground-in dirt.’
1.1(of a habit or attitude) firmly fixed or established; difficult to change.
‘a ground-in routine, repeated grimly over and over’
‘It will take more than one snowfall to cleanse the ground-in corruption that's revealed when this simpatico police detective investigates the local connections to the murder of a man who owned a trucking company in Lombardy.’
‘As with other ground-in habits, I need to identify a way of fixing this flaw, as it is expensive.’
‘This idea will challenge Christians to "re-read" their own traditions, their rigid linguistic codes, their ground-in prejudices and practices.’
‘It sounds like you live in a very depressing area where no amount of trying from yourself is going to overturn the ground-in negative attitudes of the people.’
‘He shows his own ground-in racism by being afraid to discuss historical racist attitudes rationally.’
Are You Learning English? Here Are Our Top English Tips