innate
[ih-neyt, in-eyt]
- existing in one from birth; inborn; native: innate musical talent.
- inherent in the essential character of something: an innate defect in the hypothesis.
- originating in or arising from the intellect or the constitution of the mind, rather than learned through experience: an innate knowledge of good and evil.
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Origin of innate
Synonyms
1. natural, congenital. Innate, inborn, congenital, hereditary describe qualities, characteristics, or possessions acquired before or at the time of birth. Innate, of Latin origin, and inborn, a native English word, share the literal basic sense “existing at the time of birth,” and they are interchangeable in most contexts: innate (or inborn ) stodginess, agility, gracefulness. Congenital refers most often to characteristics acquired during fetal development, especially defects or undesirable conditions: a congenital deformity; congenital blindness. Hereditary describes qualities or things passed on from ancestors, either through the genes or by social or legal means: Hemophilia is a hereditary condition; a hereditary title.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for innately
Contemporary Examples
But Diana died, and her sons—understandably, given the ruthless focus on her—innately distrust the media.
These three actors, Australian-bred and innately brooding, comprise the fabulously Hemsworth brothers.
He may hail from Kazakhstan, but Borat innately understands the American dream.
Historical Examples
Nor stinted aught with larger fate, For that she was innately great.
For surely he must have known, he had known, what Vere and Gaspare innately knew.
A Spirit in PrisonRobert Hichens
With all his blemishes and defects he was innately too much a gentleman to descend to this.
Davenport Dunn, Volume 2 (of 2)Charles James Lever
He is innately an adventurer; he seeks adventure and often finds it.
The GrizzlyEnos A. Mills
The man who cannot revere what is noble is innately degraded.
Talks on the study of literature.Arlo Bates
innate
- existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn
- being an essential part of the character of a person or thing
- instinctive; not learnedinnate capacities
- botany (of anthers) joined to the filament by the base only
- (in rationalist philosophy) (of ideas) present in the mind before any experience and knowable by pure reason
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin, from innascī to be born in, from nascī to be born
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for innately
innate
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
innate
(ĭ-nāt′, ĭn′āt′)- Possessed at birth; inborn.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.