Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to a condition that is present at birth, as a result of either heredity or environmental influences.
  • adjective Usage Problem Being or having an essential characteristic as if by nature; inherent or inveterate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Produced or existing at birth; innate; native: as, congenital disease; congenital deformity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Existing at, or dating from, birth; pertaining to one from birth; born with one; connate; constitutional; natural. See connate and native.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of a trait Present since birth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective present at birth but not necessarily hereditary; acquired during fetal development

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin congenitus : com-, com- + genitus, born, past participle of gignere, to bear; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]

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