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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

in·ner       (ĭn'ər)  Pronunciation Key  adj.   Located or occurring farther inside: an inner room; an inner layer of warm clothing. Less apparent; deeper: the inner meaning of a poem. Of or relating to the mind or spirit: "Beethoven's manuscript looks like a bloody record of a tremendous inner battle" (Leonard Bernstein). More exclusive, influential, or important: the inner circles of government. [Middle English, from Old English innera; see en in Indo-European roots.] in'ner n., in'ner·ly adv. & adj., in'ner·ness n.

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inner 

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inner
adjective
1.	located inward; "Beethoven's manuscript looks like a bloody record of a tremendous inner battle"- Leonard Bernstein; "she thinks she has no soul, no interior life, but the truth is that she has no access to it"- David Denby; "an internal sense of rightousness"- A.R.Gurney,Jr.
2.	located or occurring within or closer to a center; "an inner room" [ant: outer]
3.	innermost or essential; "the inner logic of Cubism"; "the internal contradictions of the theory"; "the intimate structure of matter"
4.	confined to an exclusive group; "privy to inner knowledge"; "inside information"; "privileged information" [syn: inside]
5.	exclusive to a center; especially a center of influence; "inner regions of the organization"; "inner circles of government"
6.	inside or closer to the inside of the body; "the inner ear"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Inner

In"ner\, a. [AS. innera, a compar. fr. inne within, fr. in in. See In.]

1. Further in; interior; internal; not outward; as, an spirit or its phenomena.

This attracts the soul, Governs the inner man,the nobler part. --Milton.

3. Not obvious or easily discovered; obscure.

Inner house (Scot.), the first and second divisions of the court of Session at Edinburgh; also,the place of their sittings.

Inner jib (Naut.), a fore-and-aft sail set on a stay running from the fore-topmast head to the jib boom.

Inner plate (Arch.), the wall plate which lies nearest to the center of the roof,in a double-plated roof.

Inner post (Naut.), a piece brought on at the fore side of the main post, to support the transoms.

Inner square (Carp.), the angle formed by the inner edges of a carpenter's square.