Synonyms for innate
- adjective
Most common
inborn intrinsic congenital instinctive natural born unlearned
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Inborn — inborn; existing or having existed since birth
inborn, intrinsic, congenital, instinctive, inherent, native, essential, indigenous, organic, constitutional, connate, connatural, unlearnt, ingrained
3. Unlearned
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Inborn; existing or having existed since birth.
- adj. 2
Originating in, or derived from, the constitution of the intellect, as opposed to acquired from experience.
- adj. 3
Instinctive; coming from instinct.
Related words
- Word family
- innately innateness
- Is a kind of
- intrinsic
Choose the right word
Inherent and intrinsic may be said of persons or things; congenital, inborn, inbred, innate, apply to living beings.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- inherent It seems to be something inherent to the human race.
- congenital Ziri has got congenital heart disease.
- instinctive All forms of life have an instinctive urge to survive.
- inborn Linguistic competence is inborn, not acquired.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| innate | rising | |
| inherent | steady | |
| congenital | steady | |
| instinctive | steady | |
| inborn | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- born1
- 6 letters
- native2, inborn2
- 7 letters
- natural3, organic3, connate
- 8 letters
- inherent3, unlearnt
- 9 letters
- essential3, intrinsic3, ingrained2, unlearned
- 10 letters
- indigenous4, congenital4, connatural
- 11 letters
- instinctive3
- 13 letters
- unconditioned
- 14 letters
- constitutional5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (native2 = 2 syllables).