hereditary
passing, or capable of passing, naturally from parent to offspring through the genes: Blue eyes are hereditary in our family.: Compare congenital.
of or relating to inheritance or heredity: a hereditary title.
existing by reason of feeling, opinions, or prejudices held by predecessors: a hereditary enemy.
Law.
descending by inheritance.
transmitted or transmissible in the line of descent by force of law.
holding title, rights, etc., by inheritance: a hereditary proprietor.
Mathematics.
(of a collection of sets) signifying that each subset of a set in the collection is itself a set in the collection.
of or relating to a mathematical property, as containing a greatest integer, applicable to every subset of a set that has the property.
Origin of hereditary
1synonym study For hereditary
Other words for hereditary
Other words from hereditary
- he·red·i·tar·i·ly [hi-red-i-tair-uh-lee, -red-i-ter-], /hɪˌrɛd ɪˈtɛər ə li, -ˈrɛd ɪˌtɛr-/, adverb
- he·red·i·tar·i·ness, noun
- non·he·red·i·tar·i·ly, adverb
- non·he·red·i·tar·i·ness, noun
- non·he·red·i·tar·y, adjective
- qua·si-he·red·i·tar·y, adjective
Words that may be confused with hereditary
- heritable, hereditary , inheritable
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use hereditary in a sentence
And of such ruins as, to our eyes unaccustomed hereditarily to proportions so gigantic, seem superhuman.
Egypt (La Mort De Philae) | Pierre LotiIt is generally said that this evil is derived hereditarily from Adam; but it is from a man's parents.
The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love | Emanuel SwedenborgThe evil in which each man is born, is not derived hereditarily from Adam, but from his parents, 525.
The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love | Emanuel SwedenborgThere is here gradation in sterility and then parts, like diseases, are transmitted hereditarily.
The Foundations of the Origin of Species | Charles DarwinHereditarily syphilitic children are filled with the spirochetes, the germs of the disease.
The Third Great Plague | John H. Stokes
British Dictionary definitions for hereditary
/ (hɪˈrɛdɪtərɪ, -trɪ) /
of, relating to, or denoting factors that can be transmitted genetically from one generation to another
law
descending or capable of descending to succeeding generations by inheritance
transmitted or transmissible according to established rules of descent
derived from one's ancestors; traditional: hereditary feuds
maths logic
(of a set) containing all those elements which have a given relation to any element of the set
(of a property) transferred by the given relation, so that if x has the property P and xRy, then y also has the property P
Derived forms of hereditary
- hereditarily, adverb
- hereditariness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for hereditary
[ hə-rĕd′ĭ-tĕr′ē ]
Passed or capable of being passed from parent to offspring by means of genes.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for hereditary
A descriptive term for conditions capable of being transmitted from parent to offspring through the genes. The term hereditary is applied to diseases such as hemophilia and characteristics such as the tendency toward baldness that pass from parents to children.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse