innate applies to qualities or characteristics that are part of one's inner essential nature.
an innate sense of fair play
inborn suggests a quality or tendency either actually present at birth or so marked and deep-seated as to seem so.
her inborn love of nature
inbred suggests something either acquired from parents by heredity or so deeply rooted and ingrained as to seem acquired in that way.
inbred political loyalties
congenital and hereditary refer to what is acquired before or at birth, the former to things acquired during fetal development and the latter to things transmitted from one's ancestors.
a congenital heart murmur
eye color is hereditary
Example Sentences
… the delays innate in both serial and book publication … Walter Rundell, American Association of University Professors Bulletin, September 1971… the materials for conflict are innate to social life. Richard Sennett, Psychology Today, November 1970The faculty for myth is innate in the human race. W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, 1919 She has an innate sense of rhythm. the innate problems of wireless communication
Recent Examples on the WebBefore your current period of rapid growth, your company (like mine) may have been small enough that your guiding ethos felt innate. Katya Laviolette, Forbes, 19 July 2022 In other words, their superior status is not innate but cultural, resulting from a long history of favorable media depictions. Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 8 July 2022 Simple enough, seemingly, for someone whose innate tennis talents appear to be nearly limitless. Kyrgios, though, has often combusted on the biggest stages.New York Times, 6 July 2022 This part of their personality is innate and skillful and can be used in fulfilling ways.Glamour, 27 May 2022 Yet Americans, already dealing with the lasting mental anguish of living through a two-year-long pandemic that’s still kicking, are feeling the frustration on a more innate level as well, behavioral economists say. Declan Harty, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2022 Wealthy leagues can show the money to goal-scorers and goal-creators who are able to conquer soccer’s innate resistance to offense. Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Apr. 2022 Scientists examined the responses from Omicron and Delta to small proteins called interferons, which act like highway flares that alert innate immune cells to invaders. Megan Scudellari, Scientific American, 11 Feb. 2022 Indeed, a 2019 study published in the Journal of Personality found women had more romantic interest in men with higher social confidence, whether that confidence was innate or trained. Melanie Radzicki Mcmanus, CNN, 29 Jan. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English innat, from Latin innatus, past participle of innasci to be born in, from in- + nasci to be born — more at nation