Home / Dictionary / Inner

Inner Very Common

Inner has 8 different meanings across 1 category:

Adjective

Definitions
Noun
1

An inner part.

"She gently rubbed her inner arm where the bite mark was hidden."

In plain English: An inner is someone who lives inside your body, like your heart or stomach.

"The inner spoke of the wheel was bent when I hit the curb."

Usage: Use "inner" only when referring specifically to the central or deepest section of something, such as an inner tube or the inner city. It is rarely used as a standalone noun in modern English unless preceded by a specific modifier like "the.

Adjective
1

located inward

"Beethoven's manuscript looks like a bloody record of a tremendous inner battle"

"she thinks she has no soul, no interior life, but the truth is that she has no access to it"

"an internal sense of rightousness"

2

located or occurring within or closer to a center

"an inner room"

3

innermost or essential

"the inner logic of Cubism"

"the internal contradictions of the theory"

"the intimate structure of matter"

4

confined to an exclusive group

"privy to inner knowledge"

"inside information"

"privileged information"

5

exclusive to a center; especially a center of influence

"inner regions of the organization"

"inner circles of government"

6

inside or closer to the inside of the body

"the inner ear"

7

Being or occurring (farther) inside, situated farther in, located (situated) or happening on the inside of something, situated within or farther within contained within something.

"She carefully wrapped a protective layer around the inner core of the fruit to keep it from bruising during transport."

In plain English: Inner means being on the inside of something rather than on the outside.

"She felt an inner peace after finishing her long journey."

Usage: Use "inner" to describe something positioned deeper within an object or space, such as the inner ring of a track or the inner lining of a coat. It specifically refers to location relative to an outer boundary rather than emotional states or abstract qualities.

Example Sentences
"She felt an inner peace after finishing her long journey." adj
"She felt an inner peace after finishing her long day of work." adj
"The inner lining of his jacket was made of soft wool." adj
"His inner circle consists only of people he trusts completely." adj
"The inner spoke of the wheel was bent when I hit the curb." noun
Related Terms
Antonyms
outer

Origin

The word inner comes from the Old English comparative form of "inne," meaning within. It traveled into modern English through Middle English to describe something located on or near the inside surface.

Rhyming Words
ner oner tiner saner niner avner viner boner liner doner runer ziner toner epner awner fener naner owner exner finer
Compare
Inner vs