innate
Not learned, inherent
Innate describes qualities present from birth or built into something's essential nature, not acquired through experience or learning.
An innate talent comes naturally.
Innate curiosity seems hardwired.
The word often contrasts with learned: Is language innate or acquired?
Innate can also mean inherent to a system: the innate limitations of the technology.
Innate behavioral tendency
- reflexInvoluntary stimulus response
- survivalRemaining alive against odds
- primalFirst in origin
- automaticOperating without intervention
involuntary · hardwired · impulse · drive · intuitive · visceral · gut · spontaneous
Existing from birth
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- geneticRelating to heredity
- inheritedReceived from forebears
- intrinsicBelonging by nature
biological · chromosomal · DNA · ancestral · lineage · bloodline · maternal · paternal
Forming the base
- intrinsicBelonging by nature
- coreCentral essential portion
- integralAntiderivative or crucial component
- basicFundamental in nature
underlying · constitutive · central · elemental · built-in · deep-seated · ingrained · essential
Preference for native-born citizens
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- KantGerman Enlightenment thinker
- DescartesCogito ergo sum's author
- PlatoGreek philosopher, academy founder
Chomsky · rationalism · Locke · epistemology · knowledge · ideas · categories · faculties
instinct
Innate behavioral tendency
automatic · involuntary · hardwired · impulse · drive · intuitive · visceral · gut · spontaneous · unlearned
congenital
Existing from birth
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- geneticRelating to heredity
- inheritedReceived from forebears
intrinsic · biological · chromosomal · DNA · ancestral · lineage · bloodline · maternal · paternal · familial
fundamental
Forming the base
- intrinsicBelonging by nature
- coreCentral essential portion
- integralAntiderivative or crucial component
basic · underlying · constitutive · central · elemental · built-in · deep-seated · ingrained · essential · inseparable
nativism
Preference for native-born citizens
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- KantGerman Enlightenment thinker
- DescartesCogito ergo sum's author
Chomsky · Plato · rationalism · Locke · epistemology · knowledge · ideas · categories · faculties
talent
Inborn aptitude
aptitude · gift · knack · flair · virtuoso · savant · precocious · endowed · blessed · God-given
- behaviorshabit, aggressive, agitation, conduct, passive
- SAT vocabularyaesthetic, ambiguous, benevolent, candid, concise
- Born with ithereditary, genetic, born with, DNA, genes
- IN- wordsinactive, incomplete, invisible, inside, indoor
- innerinner, inward, internal, within, interior
- philosophical termsSocratic, Kantian, Cartesian, Aristotelian, dialectical
innateacquired
Came to possess
learned · learnt · nurtured · cultivated · taught
innateextrinsic
Not inherent or essential
external · extraneous · adventitious · foreign · alien
- innate abilityCapability possessed from birth