List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 206

SYNONYMS: innate, inborn, inbred, congenital, hereditary.
These adjectives mean existing in a person or thing from birth or origin.

Innate, inborn, and inbred are often used interchangeably.
Inborn, however, is strongest in implying that something has been present since birth: inborn intelligence; an inborn sense of the appropriate.
What is inbred has either existed from birth or been ingrained through earliest training or associations: an inbred love of music; inbred superiority.
Something that is innate seems essential to the nature, character, or constitution: innate honesty; innate common sense.
Congenital is applied principally to characteristics, especially defects, acquired during fetal development: a congenital disease.
Hereditary refers to what is transmitted by biological heredity (a heredity heart anomaly) or by tradition: Ignorance and superstitiousness is hereditary to all sailors.