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congenital

adjective

Simple meaning

Present since birth.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhnjehnuhtuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kənˈdʒɛnətəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. of a trait or a disease

    Present since birth.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: (of a trait or a disease) Present since birth.

Used this way, congenital is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in medicine or healthcare contexts.

Emotional tone
Slightly negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Critical or judgemental
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

congenital syphiliscongenital defectcongenital anomalycongenital abnormalitycongenital hypothyroidismcongenital heartcongenital dislocationcongenital malformation

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: present since birth

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.