inheritance

noun

The passing of title to an estate upon death.

(countable) That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament, such as the part of an estate (i.e., a portion).

(uncountable, especially linguistics, biology) The act or mechanism of inheriting; the state of having inherited.

(biology, genetic algorithms) The biological attributes passed hereditarily from ancestors to their offspring.

(programming, object-oriented programming) The mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass.

Roots

heresherit- · Latin · heir

Synonyms for inheritance

heritagen ultimogeniture heirshipn patrimonyn postremogeniture hereditamentn birthrightn coparcenaryadj inheritabilityn bequestn heredityn heritableadj heirloomn legacyn primogenituren bequeathal

Synonyms & related words for inheritance

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of inheritance — including heritage, ultimogeniture, heirship, patrimony, postremogeniture, hereditament. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to inheritance

Explore words related to inheritance — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include heirdom, inherit, hereditable, coparcener, disherison, hereditarily, inheritor, inheritable. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for inheritance

Common synonyms for inheritance include heritage, ultimogeniture, heirship, patrimony, postremogeniture, hereditament, birthright, coparcenary — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does inheritance come from?

The word inheritance breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root herit-, from Latin heres (“heir”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.