Meaning & use
innate ability
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable or uncountable
A natural skill or talent that a person is born with rather than one gained through training or experience.
Grammar: Can be countable (an innate ability to sing) or uncountable (innate ability matters less than effort).
Patterns
- an innate ability to do something
- an innate ability for something
She has an innate ability to stay calm under pressure.
Many babies show an innate ability to recognize faces.
Coaches argue about whether innate ability or practice matters more.
Word forms
| plural | innate abilities |
|---|
Common combinations
- an innate ability to
- He has an innate ability to make people laugh.
- natural and innate ability
- Her innate ability for languages surprised her teachers.
- rely on innate ability
- You cannot rely on innate ability alone to win.
- possess innate ability
- Few people possess innate ability of that kind.
- innate ability and training
- Success usually combines innate ability and training.
Synonyms and how they differ
- talent
- Talent can be partly learned, but innate ability is specifically inborn.
- gift
- Gift is warmer and more figurative, suggesting something special, while innate ability sounds more analytic.
- aptitude
- Aptitude means a natural capacity to learn a certain skill quickly, and need not be fully present at birth.
- instinct
- Instinct is an automatic response to a situation, not a skill that can be improved.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: innate ability or inane?
innate ability vs inane
Inane means silly or empty of sense. It looks similar to innate but has no link to being born with something.
Practice
Which phrase best describes innate ability?
Choose one answer.
Innate means present from birth, so innate ability is inborn talent. The other options all describe things gained later.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “innate ability”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.