Etymology

The adjective is first attested in the 1420's, the verb in 1602; from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#INNATECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#INNATE innat(e) (“innate, inborn”), borrowed from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#INNATE innātus (“inborn, innate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)Category:English terms suffixed with -ate (adjective)#INNATE), 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)Category:English terms suffixed with -ate (verb)#INNATE.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈneɪt/Category:English 2-syllable words#INNATECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#INNATE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#INNATE
• Rhymes: -eɪtCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪt#INNATECategory:Rhymes:English/eɪt/2 syllables#INNATE

Adjective

innate (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#INNATECategory:English adjectives#INNATECategory:English uncomparable adjectives#INNATECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#INNATECategory:Pages with entries#INNATECategory:Pages with 3 entries#INNATE

1. Inborn; existing or having existed since birth.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:innate

   • 2023 July 26, Ben Jones, “EU open access growth offers pointers for UK hopefuls”, in RAIL, number 988, page 32:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

2. (philosophyCategory:en:Philosophy#INNATE) Originating in, or derived from, the constitution of the intellect, as opposed to acquired from experience.

   innate ideas

   Category:English terms with usage examples#INNATE

   • 1691 November 1, Robert South, “An Account of the Nature and Measures of Conscience”, in Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume II, Oxford: UP, published 1842, page 29:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

   • 1690, John Locke, “No innate Principles in the Mind”, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, book I, page 4:

     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 […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

3. Instinctive; coming from instinct.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 198:

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

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

4. (botanyCategory:en:Botany#INNATE) Joined by the base to the very tip of a filament.

   Coordinate terms: adnate, connate

   an innate anther

   Category:English terms with usage examples#INNATE

Verb

innate (third-person singular simple present innates, present participle innating, simple past and past participle innated)Category:English lemmas#INNATECategory:English verbs#INNATECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#INNATECategory:Pages with entries#INNATECategory:Pages with 3 entries#INNATE

1. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#INNATE) To cause to exist; to call into being.
   • 1601, John Marston, “Antonio’s Revenge”, in Tragedies and Comedies Collected into One Volume, London: A.M., published 1633, [Act IIII, scene i]:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

   • 1655, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, “Of the dull and innated matter”, in The Philosophical and Physical Opinions, London: J. Martin and J. Allestrye, page 46:

     […] but the innating matter works not upon the dull matter, as upon a new material, for the innate matter is mixt with the dull part of matter […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

   • a. 1661, Thomas Fuller, chapter XIX, in Anglorum Speculum, or The Worthies of England, London: John Wright, Thomas Passinger, and William Thackary, published 1684, page 20:

     Here you may behold how each County is innated with a particular Genius, inclining the Natives thereof to be dextrous, ſome in one profeſſion, ſome in another […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#INNATE

References

• “innate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “innate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• annite, ante in, nanite, tannie

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inˈna.te/Category:Italian 3-syllable words#INNATECategory:Italian terms with IPA pronunciation#INNATE
• Rhymes: -ateCategory:Rhymes:Italian/ate#INNATECategory:Rhymes:Italian/ate/3 syllables#INNATE
• Hyphenation: in‧nà‧te

Adjective

innateCategory:Italian non-lemma forms#INNATECategory:Italian adjective forms#INNATECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#INNATECategory:Pages with entries#INNATECategory:Pages with 3 entries#INNATE

1. feminine plural of innato

Anagrams

• netina

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɪnˈnaː.tɛ]Category:Latin 3-syllable words#INNATECategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#INNATE
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [inˈnaː.t̪e]Category:Latin 3-syllable words#INNATECategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#INNATE

Participle

innāteCategory:Latin non-lemma forms#INNATECategory:Latin participle forms#INNATECategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#INNATECategory:Pages with entries#INNATECategory:Pages with 3 entries#INNATE

1. vocative masculine singular of innātus