🌱 Innate: The Talent You’re Born With
INNATE — friend or stranger? Test yourself: A) inert; B) learned; C) imminent; D) inborn. Check your answer inside. 👉
If something is innate, it's already in you when you're born. The idea is that you don't really acquire it through your life, although of course you can improve, sharpen, or hone innate skills. Innate is similar to instinctual, but innate can describe any inborn quality or ability (like people able to communicate well), while instinctual usually describes behavior driven automatically by instinct (like fear of heights).
📚️ Definition of Innate
Innate (adjective): existing in one from birth; inborn; native: her innate artistic talent.
🗣️ Pronunciation of Innate
IPA: ɪˈneɪt (See IPA key)
Phonetic: ih-NAYT
🗣️ Pronunciation of Innate
IPA: ɪˈneɪt (See IPA key)
Phonetic: ih-NAYT
📰 Examples of Innate
Here are some examples of the word Innate:
I think Mia’s kindness is just innate; she’s been that way ever since elementary school.
I have an incredible innate ability to sleep in the mornings, but avoid it at night. Please help me make sense of this.
In 1991, a British research team reported that newborns less than an hour old tracked face-like patterns farther than they did random or blank patterns, suggesting an innate tendency to notice faces.
🗣️ Common Collocations of Innate
A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.
innate ability
innate talent
innate curiosity
innate in humans
innate, not acquired
Quiz answer: D.
Notice how innate often pairs with the words talent, ability, or instinct—and contrasts with learned or acquired qualities. Next time, look forward to “juxtapose,” which is also an important SAT question word.