to inhere in
1
9.4
- phrasal verb
- /ɪnˈhɪr ɪn/
- Formal
:
inherir en
- As Beer says of Darwin, "Meaning inheres in activity and in interrelations" (41).
- power that inhere in
- meaning inhere in
Examples
-
Nixon and Kissinger demonstrated the great potential for power that inheres in the position of national security adviser.
Academic text (2009) -
The aura is impressionistic; it inheres in the perception of natural objects, such as a branch, rather than in the objects themselves.
Academic text (2016) -
Tragedy, that is, does not inhere in the actions themselves.
Academic text (1993) -
Clearly, power is thought to inhere in these narrow structures.
Academic text (2003) -
In such a worldview, rights inhere in the group, not the individual.
Blog text (28) -
Frankly, hazards also inhere in the conventional model of public services delivered by public agencies.
Academic text (2017) -
Americans can affirm their core values yet recognize the hubris that inheres in them.
Academic text (2011) -
But there's certainly no need to rethink the assumption that meaning inheres in words.
Academic text (1998) -
But judgment relates to features that inhere in objects; their presence is statistically verifiable by anyone who cares to look.
Academic text (1999) -
The beauty of the painting inhere in the delicate brushwork and vibrant colors.
Synonyms
52
4.0
To be a quality or power present in something
5
6.6
To have something as the main quality or source
1
9.9
To be a natural and permanent part of something
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core meaning is fully compositional: 'inhere' means 'to be an essential quality of' and the preposition 'in' simply marks the locus/relationship, so 'inhere in' transparently means 'to exist as an essential part of'. This construction follows normal verb + preposition semantics and is cross-linguistically regular, so a learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning (noting that 'inhere' is relatively formal/low-frequency).
Etymology
Inhere in may come from an old image of something that 'sticks' inside another thing, like a seed fixed in fruit. So, when a quality inheres in something, it means that quality 'is a basic part' of it and cannot be taken away.