In"nate (ĭn"n?t or
ĭn*nāt"; 277), a. [L. innatus;
pref. in- in + natus born, p. p. of nasci to be
born. See Native.] 1. Inborn; native;
natural; as, innate vigor; innate eloquence.
2. (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.
3. (Bot.) Joined by the base to the
very tip of a filament; as, an innate anther.
Gray.
Innate ideas (Metaph.), ideas, as of
God, immortality, right and wrong, supposed by some to be inherent in
the mind, as a priori principles of knowledge.
In*nate" (?), v. t. To cause to
exit; to call into being. [Obs.] "The first innating
cause." Marston.