Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to the essential nature of a thing; inherent.
- adj. Anatomy Situated within or belonging solely to the organ or body part on which it acts. Used of certain nerves and muscles.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Being within; penetrating inward; intimate; familiar; intestine; domestic.
- Hence—2. Pertaining to the inner or essential nature; intimately characterizing; inherent; essential; genuine; belonging to the subject in its very existence: as, the intrinsic value of gold or silver; the intrinsic merit of an action.
- In Scots law, intimately connected with the point at issue: applied to circumstances sworn to by a party on an oath of reference that make part of the evidence afforded by the oath, and cannot be separated from it.
- In anatomy, applied to those muscles of the limbs which take origin within the anatomical limits of the limb, such limits including the pectoral and pelvic arches.
- Synonyms Interior, Inward, etc. See inner.
- n. A genuine or essential quality.
- In pathology, pertaining to the internal parts or to the structures proper of an organ.
Wiktionary
- adj. innate, inherent, inseparable from the thing itself, essential
- adj. comprising, being part of a whole
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Inward; internal; hence, true; genuine; real; essential; inherent; not merely apparent or accidental; -- opposed to
extrinsic - adj. Included wholly within an organ or limb, as certain groups of muscles; -- opposed to
extrinsic . - n. A genuine quality.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. situated within or belonging solely to the organ or body part on which it acts
- adj. belonging to a thing by its very nature
Etymologies
- Middle English intrinsique, inner, from Old French intrinseque, from Late Latin intrīnsecus, inward, from Latin, inwardly; see en in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Maybe that should be regarded as a clue to the main intrinsic purpose of the institution.”
Tenure and Non-Profits, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“I think for someone sensitive who truly believes in intrinsic goodness would pretty much have had to kill themselves after WWII.”
“This population is already prone to deficiency in intrinsic factor, necessary for B12 absorption.”
“There are a few things about Silicon Valley that remain intrinsic to the area and IMHO cannot be carried over to another region of the world.”
“It's typically easier to establish the market value for an urban property in places like Manhattan, where other high-end homes are for sale and the location itself is expected to provide long-term intrinsic value.”
Forbes: Royal Retreats: Where The World's Monarchs Go To Get Away From It All
“This is only the old fallacy of Reason and Passion in intrinsic opposition rearing its ugly head again.”
“It said last week that the Blackstone offer does not capture the long-term intrinsic value of Dynegy ' s business, which we believe is very well positioned to capture the benefits of a recovery in electricity prices.”
The Wall Street Journal: Icahn Adds to Dynegy Holdings, Offers Debt
“Seneca said in an SEC filing that the deal doesn ' t capture the long-term intrinsic value of Dynegy ' s business, which we believe is very well positioned to capture the benefits of a recovery in electricity prices.”
“The company remains confident of the viability of Casposo and remains committed to its development at a time when the cost of debt and equity financing does not erode the long term intrinsic value of the business, as it would today," Intrepid said.”
“One common fix advocated is to abandon or de-emphasize mark-to-market accounting in favor of allowing companies to estimate an asset's "true" long-term intrinsic value.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘intrinsic’.
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Academic Vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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For Summer
analogous, prestidigitation, defenestrate, crux, supercilious, sunglasses, replete, foment, anthropomorphic, iota, intrinsic, prosaic and 29 more...
evin290 This is one of my favourite words to use when I'm writing. :) Sep 9, 2007