innate
/ɪˈneɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.48 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Originating in, or derived from, the constitution of the intellect, as opposed to acquired from experience.
adj
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."
Etymology
The adjective is first attested in the 1420s, the verb in 1602; from Middle English innat(e) (“innate, inborn”), borrowed from Latin innātus (“inborn, innate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), perfect active participle of innāscor (“to be born in, grow up in”), from in- (“in, at on”) + nāscor (“to be born”); see natal, native. The verb is derived from the adjective, see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: first attested in the 1420s
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ǵenh₁-, innat, innātus