Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Innate

1. Inborn; native; natural; as, innate vigor; innate eloquence.

2. (Science: psychology) Originating in, or derived from, the constitution of the intellect, as opposed to acquired from experience; as, innate ideas. See a priori, intuitive. There is an innate light in every man, discovering to him the first lines of duty in the common notions of good and evil. (South) Men would not be guilty if they did not carry in their mind common notions of morality,innate and written in divine letters. (Fleming (Origen)) If i could only show,as i hope i shall . . . How men, barely by the use of their natural faculties, may attain to all the knowledge they have, without the help of any innate impressions; and may arrive at certainty without any such original notions or principles. (Locke)

3. (Science: botany) Joined by the base to the very tip of a filament; as, an innate anther.

(Science: psychology) innate ideas, ideas, as of god, immortality, right and wrong, supposed by some to be inherent in the mind, as a priori principles of knowledge.

Origin: L. Innatus; pref. In- in _ natus born, p.p. Of nasci to be born. See native. Present at birth but not necessarily hereditary; acquired during fetal development.