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bake in

B2 informal separable transitive
In simple words

To include something in a plan or product so completely that you can't take it out later, like ingredients in a cake.

Literal meaning: To cook something inside something else in an oven — a transparent cooking term, but extended idiomatically.

Meanings

1 B2 idiomatic informal

To permanently and deeply embed an assumption, feature, or value into a plan, system, or product.

"The developers baked in security protocols from the very beginning of the app's design."

Grammar: separable
2 A2 neutral

To cook something inside another food item in an oven.

"She baked the filling in to create a sealed, golden pie."

Grammar: separable
3 C1 idiomatic formal

(Finance/markets) To already reflect or price in a future event or expectation.

"Analysts say the interest rate rise is already baked in to the current stock prices."

Grammar: separable
Usage notes

Widely used in business, technology, and policy contexts. The metaphor draws on the irreversibility of baking — once something is baked in, you cannot remove it. Common in American English.

Commonly used with

assumption cost feature bias incentive expectation

Forms

Base
bake in
I/you/we/they
3rd person
bakes in
he/she/it
Past simple
baked in
yesterday
Past participle
baked in
have + pp
-ing form
baking in
continuous

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Synonyms

embed build in incorporate hardcode entrench factor in

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