Ingrate Meaning
/ˈɪnɡɹeɪt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjUngrateful.
adjUnfriendly; unpleasant.
Sentence Examples
The ingrate never thanked us.
He was an ingrate to his parents.
He proved to be a selfish ingrate after all.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After receiving so many gifts, the ____ never even said thank you.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After all the help I gave him, he didn't even say thank you, what a complete ____!
Word Origin & History
First attested in 1393, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English ingrat, from Latin ingrātus (“disagreeable”), from in- (“not”) + grātus (“pleasing”). Cognate with French ingrat.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Many of theſe might ſeem ingrate and unkind children, that vvill no better acknovvledge and recogniſe their parents in vvords and outvvard pretence, but abrenounce and caſt them off, as though they hated them as dogs and ſerpents."
— 1536 June 15 (Gregorian calendar), Hugh Latimer, “Sermon II. Master Latimer’s Discourse on the Same Day in the Afternoon [Preached to the Convocation of the Clergy, before the Parliament Began, the Sixth Day of June, the Twenty Eighth Year of the Reign of the Late King Henry VIII].”, in The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, Master Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester. […], volume I, London: […] J. Scott, […], published 1758, →OCLC, page 24:
"Yet in his mind malitious and ingrate"
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
"But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer / As high in the air as this unthankful king, / As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke."
— c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"The causes of that which is pleasing , or ingrate to the hearing , may receive light by that which is pleasing or ingrate to the sight"
— 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
"Who, for ſo many benefits receiv'd, / Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and falſe, / And ſo of all true good himſelf deſpoil'd, […]"
— 1671, John Milton, “The Third Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 61:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After receiving so many gifts, the ____ never even said thank you.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After all the help I gave him, he didn't even say thank you, what a complete ____!