INTRINSIC

intrinsic

(adjective) situated within or belonging solely to the organ or body part on which it acts; “intrinsic muscles”

intrinsic, intrinsical

(adjective) belonging to a thing by its very nature; “form was treated as something intrinsic, as the very essence of the thing”- John Dewey

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

intrinsic (comparative more intrinsic, superlative most intrinsic)

Innate, inherent, inseparable from the thing itself, essential.

Synonyms: essential, inherent, innate, proper to

Antonym: extrinsic

(anatomy, of a body part) Situated, produced, secreted in, or coming from inside an organ, tissue, muscle or member.

Synonyms

• (innate): See also intrinsic or innate

Noun

intrinsic (plural intrinsics)

(computing, programming) A built-in function that is implemented directly by the compiler, without any intermediate call to a library.

(video games) An ability possessed by a character and not requiring any external equipment.

Anagrams

• citrinins

Source: Wiktionary

In*trin"sic, a. Etym: [L. intrinsecus inward, on the inside; intra within + secus otherwise, beside; akin to E. second: cf. F. intrinsèque. See Inter-, Second, and cf. Extrinsic.]

1. Inward; internal; hence, true; genuine; real; essential; inherent; not merely apparent or accidental; -- opposed to extrinsic; as, the intrinsic value of gold or silver; the intrinsic merit of an action; the intrinsic worth or goodness of a person. He was better qualified than they to estimate justly the intrinsic value of Grecian philosophy and refinement. I. Taylor.

2. (Anat.)

Definition: Included wholly within an organ or limb, as certain groups of muscles; -- opposed to extrinsic. Intrinsic energy of a body (Physics), the work it can do in virtue of its actual condition, without any supply of energy from without.

– Intrinsic equation of a curve (Geom.), the equation which expresses the relation which the length of a curve, measured from a given point of it, to a movable point, has to the angle which the tangent to the curve at the movable point makes with a fixed line.

– Intrinsic value. See the Note under Value, n.

Syn.

– Inherent; innate; natural; real; genuine.

In*trin"sic, n.

Definition: A genuine quality. [Obs.] Warburton.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition