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You're probably familiar with inherent, the adjective meaning "part of the constitution or natural character of something," but were you aware of its less common relative inhere? This verb looks like it could be a back-formation of inherent (a back-formation is a word created by removing a prefix or suffix from an existing word), but usage evidence of the two words makes it difficult to tell for sure. Both inhere and inherent date to the late 16th century and are derived from the Latin verb inhaerēre ("to inhere"), which was itself formed by combining in- with haerēre, a verb meaning "to adhere."
Examples of inhere in a Sentence
Henry A. Kissinger, Foreign Affairs, 1 Mar. 2012
The palpable satisfaction of butter making would inhere at any moment.
—Alexandra Kleeman, New York Times, 12 Aug. 2020
Great utility still inheres in the oceans if it is understood in light of what soon may come.
—Mark Helprin, National Review, 16 Apr. 2020
Methodologically speaking, though, the gap between these two more basic strategies may speak to a fundamental paradox that inheres in archival projects more generally.
—Jacob Brogan, Slate Magazine, 22 Feb. 2017
So is the cult of personality that inheres in the presidency, augmented by Trump’s celebrity.
—Rich Lowry, National Review, 27 Oct. 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inhere.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near inhere
Cite this Entry
“Inhere.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inhere. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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