innate

(ĭ-nāt', ĭn'āt')
adj.

1. Possessed at birth; inborn.
2. Possessed as an essential characteristic; inherent.
3. Of or produced by the mind rather than learned through experience: an innate knowledge of right and wrong.

[Middle English innat, from Latin innātus, past participle of innāscī, to be born in : in-, in; see in-² + nāscī, to be born.]

innately in·nate'ly adv.
innateness in·nate'ness n.

SYNONYMS   innate, inborn, inbred, congenital, hereditary. These adjectives mean existing in a person or thing from birth or origin. Something that is innate seems essential to the nature, character, or constitution: innate common sense. Inborn strongly implies that something has been present since birth: inborn intelligence. What is inbred has often been ingrained through earliest training or associations: an inbred love of music. Congenital is applied principally to characteristics, especially defects, acquired during fetal development: a congenital disease. It is also used figuratively of characteristics or people with characteristics that are so deep-seated as to appear natural: a congenital pessimism; a congenital liar. Hereditary refers to what is transmitted by biological heredity (a hereditary heart anomaly) or by tradition: "that ignorance and superstitiousness hereditary to all sailors" (Herman Melville).

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adjective

1. Possessed at birth: congenital, hereditary, inborn, inherited, native. See be, native/foreign.
2. Forming an essential element, as arising from the basic structure of an individual: built-in, congenital, connatural, constitutional, elemental, inborn, inbred, indigenous, indwelling, ingrained, inherent, intrinsic, native, natural. See be, native/foreign, start/end.

adj

Definition: inherited, native
Antonyms: acquired, extrinsic, learned

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

adj.

Natural, inherent -- as innate ideas, that is to say, ideas that we are born with, having had them previously imparted to us. The doctrine of innate ideas is one of the most admirable faiths of philosophy, being itself an innate idea and therefore inaccessible to disproof, though Locke foolishly supposed himself to have given it "a black eye." Among innate ideas may be mentioned the belief in one's ability to conduct a newspaper, in the greatness of one's country, in the superiority of one's civilization, in the importance of one's personal affairs and in the interesting nature of one's diseases.

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being an essential characteristic of an organism or thing; inborn.

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Inborn; hereditary; congenital.

For a list of words related to innate, see:

• Enlightenment, Truth, and the Unknowable - innate: (adj) belonging to essential character of something; originating in the mind rather than experience

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See words rhyming with "innate."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Innate.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - medfødt, instinktiv

Nederlands (Dutch)
aangeboren, inherent

Français (French)
adj. - inné, naturel

Deutsch (German)
adj. - angeboren

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - έμφυτος, εγγενής, σύμφυτος

Italiano (Italian)
innato

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - inato

Русский (Russian)
врожденный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - innato

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - medfödd, naturlig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
先天的, 天生的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 先天的, 天生的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 타고난, 천성의, 직관적인

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 生来の, 天賦の, 内在的, 生まれつきの

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) فطري, غريزي, سليقي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮טבוע בדמו, שמלידה, נובע מהמוח (רעיון)‬

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