Library / English Dictionary

INHERITANCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hereditary succession to a title or an office or property

Synonyms:

heritage; inheritance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("inheritance" is a kind of...):

acquisition (the act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession of something)

Derivation:

inherit (obtain from someone after their death)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors

Example:

the world's heritage of knowledge

Synonyms:

heritage; inheritance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("inheritance" is a kind of...):

attribute (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inheritance"):

birthright (personal characteristics that are inherited at birth)

background (a person's social heritage: previous experience or training)

birthright (a right or privilege that you are entitled to at birth)

upbringing (properties acquired during a person's formative years)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from the parents

Synonyms:

hereditary pattern; inheritance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("inheritance" is a kind of...):

genetic endowment; heredity (the total of inherited attributes)

Domain category:

genetic science; genetics (the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inheritance"):

ancestry; derivation; filiation; lineage (inherited properties shared with others of your bloodline)

gene linkage; linkage ((genetics) traits that tend to be inherited together as a consequence of an association between their genes; all of the genes of a given chromosome are linked (where one goes they all go))

X-linked dominant inheritance (hereditary pattern in which a dominant gene on the X chromosome causes a characteristic to be manifested in the offspring)

X-linked recessive inheritance (hereditary pattern in which a recessive gene on the X chromosome results in the manifestation of characteristics in male offspring and a carrier state in female offspring)

Derivation:

inherit (receive by genetic transmission)

Sense 4

Meaning:

That which is inherited; a title or property or estate that passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner

Synonyms:

heritage; inheritance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("inheritance" is a kind of...):

transferred possession; transferred property (a possession whose ownership changes or lapses)

Meronyms (parts of "inheritance"):

heirloom ((law) any property that is considered by law or custom as inseparable from an inheritance is inherited with that inheritance)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inheritance"):

primogeniture (right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son)

borough English (a former English custom by which the youngest son inherited land to the exclusion of his older brothers)

accretion ((law) an increase in a beneficiary's share in an estate (as when a co-beneficiary dies or fails to meet some condition or rejects the inheritance))

bequest; legacy ((law) a gift of personal property by will)

birthright; patrimony (an inheritance coming by right of birth (especially by primogeniture))

devise ((law) a gift of real property by will)

heirloom (something that has been in a family for generations)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Each mode of inheritance results in a characteristic pattern of affected and unaffected family members.

(Inheritance Mode, NCI Dictionary)

The condition is always transmitted through autosomal dominant inheritance.

(Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2A, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Familial patterns of inheritance, primarily autosomal dominant with incomplete penetrance, have been identified.

(Idiopathic Torsion Dystonia, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Does not necessarily imply a genetic inheritance.

(Hereditary Malignant Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare immunodeficiency with an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance.

(Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency Type 1, NCI Thesaurus)

An estate of at least equal value, moreover, was assured as his future inheritance.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A rare genetic disorder with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance with variable penetrance.

(Hereditary Benign Intraepithelial Dyskeratosis, NCI Thesaurus)

A form associated with autosomal recessive inheritance and congenital deafness is called the JERVELL-LANGE NIELSEN SYNDROME.

(Long QT Syndrome, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

In this sinister way I came into my inheritance.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A rare degenerative genetic disorder with an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance that primarily affects the central nervous system.

(Cerebrooculofacioskeletal Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)