Innate

/ɪˈneɪt/ · adjective

Meaning

Inborn; existing or having existed since birth..

Definitions by Sense

1. Inborn; existing or having existed since birth.
2. (philosophy) Originating in, or derived from, the constitution of the intellect, as opposed to acquired from experience.
3. Instinctive; coming from instinct.
4. (botany) Joined by the base to the very tip of a filament.
5. (obsolete) To cause to exist; to call into being.

Example Sentences

Ironically, given France's innate reluctance to permit competition at home, the first breach in Renfe's monopoly came from SNCF offshoot Ouigo España in 2021.

innate ideas

There is an innate light in every man, discovering to him the first lines of duty, in the common notions of good and evil, which, by cultivation and improvement, may be advanced to higher and brighter discoveries.

It would be ſufficient to convince unprejudiced Readers of the falſeneſs of this Suppoſition, if I ſhould only ſhew (as I hope I ſhall in the following Parts of this Diſcourſe) how Men barely by the Uſe of their natural Faculties, may attain to all the Knowledge that they have, without the help of any innate Impreſſions[…]

Perhaps, from an innate desire of justification, sorrow always exaggerates itself.

As if she held the clue to something secret in his breast, of the nature of which he was hardly informed himself. As if she had an innate knowledge of one jarring and discordant string within him, and her very breath could sound it.

an innate anther

I never ſaw a foole leane : the chub-fac’d fop / Shines ſleek with full cramm’d fat of happineſſe, / VVhilſt ſtudious contemplation ſucks the juice / From wiſards cheekes : who making curious ſearch / For Natures ſecrets, the firſt innating cauſe / Laughs them to ſcorne, as man doth buſy Apes / VVhen they will zany men.

Synonyms for innate

Antonyms for innate

Related Words

Word Forms

• innates
• innating
• innated

Usage Notes

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