inner

[ in-er ]

adjective

1. situated within or farther within; interior:

   an inner door.

2. more intimate, private, or secret:

   the inner workings of the organization.

3. of or relating to the mind or spirit; mental; spiritual:

   the inner life.

4. not obvious; hidden or obscure:

   an inner meaning.

5. noting or relating to an aspect of a person's mind or personality that has not been fully discovered, revealed, or expressed:

   a place where anyone can find their inner artist regardless of skill level.

inner

/ ˈɪnə /

adjective

1. being or located further inside

   an inner room

2. happening or occurring inside

   inner movement

3. relating to the soul, mind, spirit, etc

   inner feelings

4. more profound or obscure; less apparent

   the inner meaning

5. exclusive or private

   inner regions of the party

6. chem (of a compound) having a cyclic structure formed or apparently formed by reaction of one functional group in a molecule with another group in the same molecule

   an inner ester

noun

1. Also calledred archery
   1. the red innermost ring on a target
   2. a shot which hits this ring

Derived Forms

• ˈinnerness, noun
• ˈinnerly, adverb

Other Words From

• inner·ly adverb adjective
• inner·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of inner¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English innera, comparative based on the adv. inne within, inside; inmost none, -er ⁴none

Example Sentences

Because I’ve spoken to more than a few people in his inner circle, and they tell me that very few people, maybe only the candidate himself, actually thought on Election Day that he was going to win.

From Ozy

The inner one has some 14 times the mass of Jupiter and is 160 times farther from its star than Earth is from our sun.

From Science News For Students

You can publish guest posts, submit press releases, and reach out to authority sites in your niche to link to the inner pages of your website to increase domain authority.

From Search Engine Watch

The pair kept going, diving into the inner workings of Bateman and Katz’s method and eventually figuring out what new ideas would allow them to transfer it over from the world of Set to the whole numbers.

From Quanta Magazine

Today, we’re going to finish up by talking about the inner-circle contenders.

From FiveThirtyEight

Le Femme Finishing School helps transwomen find their inner beauty, no matter their age.

From The Daily Beast

For his part though, the dude with the inner grandma is pretty much just looking ahead.

From The Daily Beast

There must be in his life, as Truffaut remarked about Hitchcock's films, “inner fire and cool surfaces.”

From The Daily Beast

This can be seen not just in distant exurbs or suburbs, but in prime inner-city neighborhoods.

From The Daily Beast

The demonic ‘anti-Santa’ enjoys an unlikely renaissance as we learn to embrace our inner pagan.

From The Daily Beast

Eggs and nestlings were found lying on the bare soil at the inner ends of the burrows; no nesting material was found.

From Project Gutenberg

The inner ends of the burrows were enlarged with a depression in the floor, where the eggs were laid.

From Project Gutenberg

She was even meditating a retreat, inexplicably embarrassed, when an inner door opened and Lady Victoria entered.

From Project Gutenberg

He found the man, with his wife and children, in a large corner room opening on the inner court of the Mission quadrangle.

From Project Gutenberg

Meadows began to play inner planet combinations that occasionally paid, though at short odds.

From Project Gutenberg