extrinsic

/ɛkˈstrɪnsɪk/

Other forms: extrinsically

Extrinsic means not connected to the essential nature of something. New cleats are extrinsic to making the soccer team. How you play is what gets you on the team, whether your cleats are old or new.

If the ex in extrinsic makes you think of external or extra you’re on the right track––all these ex words are talking about something that is outside, or above and beyond. You often hear extrinsic paired with its opposite, intrinsic, which means part of something or someone's essential nature. If being sweet-tempered is intrinsic to your personality, you might not even know how to get mad.

Definitions of extrinsic

1. adjective

   not forming an essential part of a thing or arising or originating from the outside
   “extrinsic evidence”

   “an extrinsic feature of the new building”

   “that style is something extrinsic to the subject”

   “looking for extrinsic aid”

   synonyms:

   inessential, unessential

   not basic or fundamental

   adventitious

   associated by chance and not an integral part

   adscititious

   added or derived from something outside; not inherent

   alien, foreign

   not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something

   external, extraneous, outside

   coming from the outside

   extraneous

   not essential

   antonyms:

   intrinsic

   belonging to a thing by its very nature

   inalienable, unalienable

   incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another

   essential

   basic and fundamental

   built-in, constitutional, inbuilt, inherent, integral

   existing as an essential constituent or characteristic

   inner, internal, intimate

   innermost or essential