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. of a body part 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. (Anat.) Included wholly within an organ or limb, as certain groups of muscles; -- opposed to
extrinsic . - n. obsolete 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
- From Latin intrinsecus ("on the inside, inwardly"), from *intrim, an assumed adverbial form of inter ("within") + seccus ("by, on the side") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English intrinsique, inner, from Old French intrinseque, from Late Latin intrīnsecus, inward, from Latin, inwardly; see en in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
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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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 4087 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 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...
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Words to Learn
colloquium, resilient, ruminate, missive, sylvan, indefatigable, preclude, prowess, quiescent, caustic, verdant, specter and 119 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL I
iconoclast, idiosyncrasy, ignoble, ignominious, illicit, illusory, illustrious, imbibe, imbue, immaculate, immaterial, immolate and 155 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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ESL Academic Word List
This is a list of academic words for students learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. It includes 570 word families that often appear in academic texts. It does not include words that are...
collapse, depression, colleagues, invoked, levy, nonetheless, likewise, so-called, ongoing, conceived, forthcoming, integrity and 558 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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Mimi
sober, rhetoric, oratory, ergo, venom, diaphragm, Medieval, piety, incognito, ruse, calamity, evidence and 251 more...
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just words.
coquette, solecism, peripherally, recrudescence, viscid, turpitude, sententious, light-heeled, interminably, unflappable, palpably, solicitous and 215 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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Learned words
Words which are highly likely to be found in the work of learned writers.
ailurophile, labyrinthine, lagniappe, colleague, anechoic, reglets, fluctuations, scalar, implicit, constitute, mortification, ambassadors and 629 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for intrinsic.
evin290 This is one of my favourite words to use when I'm writing. :) Sep 9, 2007