MEANING
Present from birth or arising naturally, rather than acquired through learning or experience.
Use it for
distinguishing inborn capacities from learned skills; questioning assumptions about the origins of behavior; describing a naturally present quality without claiming it cannot changeDistinguishes an inborn quality from acquired learning without equating it with fixed genetic destiny. Academic functions: Causation / Relationships, Theory / Conceptual Language.
Words that belong together
- innate ability
- innate tendency
- innate characteristics
On the page
The psychologist asks whether the response is innate or develops through early experience.
Describing an ability as innate does not establish that practice cannot alter its expression.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Word forms
- Base
- innate
Usage notes
Adjective: innate ability, innate tendency. Normally non-gradable in strict born-with usage; degrees of ability are not degrees of being innate. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.