MEANING
1. Most private and deeply concealed within a person’s thoughts or feelings.
2. Situated furthest inside something or nearest to its center.
Use it for
describing thoughts a character does not share; contrasting public speech with deeply private feeling; revealing a guarded desire or fear; giving introspection a sense of emotional depthDistinguishes the most private thoughts from simply internal thought, and separates psychological privacy from physical depth. Writing functions: Introspection / Hidden feeling.
Words that belong together
- innermost thoughts
- innermost feelings
- an innermost desire
On the page
Even in her diary, she stopped short of naming her innermost fear.
His polished courtesy gave no hint of his innermost wishes.
The innermost chamber had no door that opened onto the corridor.
Heat lingered in the innermost layers of the stone long after sunset.
Word forms
- Base
- innermost
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Usage notes
Adjective, generally before a noun. Already expresses the furthest degree inward; do not form innermoster, innermostest, or a routine more/most comparison. Register: literary. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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