Literary notes about inherently (AI summary)
The adverb "inherently" is employed in literature to underscore qualities or conditions that are essential, natural, and inseparable from a subject’s very being. Writers use it to emphasize that certain traits—be they moral, emotional, physical, or philosophical—are not superficial or contingent, but rather inherent to a person, object, or concept; for instance, describing methods as "inherently immoral" illustrates a quality embedded in their nature ([1]), while noting that facts are "inherently true" suggests an inextricable link between appearance and reality ([2]). Its use often contrasts external circumstances with intrinsic characteristics, as in cases where characters are depicted as naturally affectionate despite a cool exterior ([3]) or when innate dispositions—whether good, wicked, or docile—are highlighted as fundamental to identity ([4], [5]). Overall, the term helps convey that these qualities exist by necessity, shaping the inherent nature of things without recourse to external justification.
- The ugly and inherently immoral aspect of such methods cannot affect the recognition of their lawfulness.
— from The German Spy in AmericaThe Secret Plotting of German Spies in the United States and the Inside Story of the Sinking of the Lusitania by John Price Jones - In all of them the facts are inherently true, by which I mean that they are not only possible but that they have actually happened.
— from Notes on My Books by Joseph Conrad - Poised, cool, self-possessed, yet inherently affectionate.
— from The Dark Other by Stanley G. (Stanley Grauman) Weinbaum - But he is inherently selfish, and has no moral courage.
— from Beacon Lights of History, Volume 07: Great Women by John Lord - She was to them obviously the perfect tool, childlike, flighty, inherently docile, and moved by the least enticement to new anticipations.
— from Queens of the Renaissance by M. Beresford Ryley