innate Meaning, Definition & Usage

adjective not established by conditioning or learning
unconditioned; unlearned.
- an unconditioned reflex
adjective satellite being talented through inherited qualities
born; natural.
- a natural leader
- a born musician
- an innate talent
adjective satellite present at birth but not necessarily hereditary; acquired during fetal development
congenital; inborn.

L. innatus; pref. in- in + natus born, p.p. of nasci to be born. See Native.

Inborn; native; natural; as, innate vigor; innate eloquence.
(Metaph.) 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.
(Bot.) Joined by the base to the very tip of a filament; as, an innate anther. Gray.

To cause to exit; to call into being. Obs. "The first innating cause." Marston.