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View synonyms for hereditary

hereditary

[ huh-red-i-ter-ee ]

adjective

  1. passing, or capable of passing, naturally from parent to offspring through the genes: Compare congenital.

    Blue eyes are hereditary in our family.

  2. of or relating to inheritance or heredity:

    a hereditary title.

  3. existing by reason of feeling, opinions, or prejudices held by predecessors:

    a hereditary enemy.

    Synonyms: traditional, ancestral

  4. Law.
    1. descending by inheritance.
    2. transmitted or transmissible in the line of descent by force of law.
    3. holding title, rights, etc., by inheritance:

      a hereditary proprietor.

  5. Mathematics.
    1. (of a collection of sets) signifying that each subset of a set in the collection is itself a set in the collection.
    2. of or relating to a mathematical property, as containing a greatest integer, applicable to every subset of a set that has the property.


hereditary

/ hɪˈrɛdɪtərɪ; -trɪ /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or denoting factors that can be transmitted genetically from one generation to another
  2. law
    1. descending or capable of descending to succeeding generations by inheritance
    2. transmitted or transmissible according to established rules of descent
  3. derived from one's ancestors; traditional

    hereditary feuds

  4. maths logic
    1. (of a set) containing all those elements which have a given relation to any element of the set
    2. (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


hereditary

/ hə-rĕdĭ-tĕr′ē /

  1. Passed or capable of being passed from parent to offspring by means of genes.


hereditary

  1. 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.


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Derived Forms

  • heˈreditarily, adverb
  • heˈreditariness, noun

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Other Words From

  • he·red·i·tar·i·ly [hi-red-i-, tair, -, uh, -lee, -, red, -i-ter-], 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

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Word History and Origins

Origin of hereditary1

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin hērēditārius “relating to inheritance,” equivalent to hērēdit(ās) “inheritance,” heredity + -ārius -ary

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Synonym Study

See innate.

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Example Sentences

Furthermore, by the 14th century BC, the pharaohs created a separate military caste which was basically hereditary in its nature.

The term gene was introduced later, in 1909, by the Danish biologist Wilhelm Johannsen to refer to the unit of hereditary material.

They respected the ritual specialists as guardians of ancient texts, the Vedas, and the priests gradually formed a hereditary class, the brahmins.

From Time

The PIEZ01 and PIEZ02 genes that Patapoutian discovered have also been implicated in a number of hereditary diseases involving proprioception.

Much of this unwritten Constitution had deep roots in hereditary political powers of kings and noblemen.

From Time

That surely was the sentiment of more than a few of the hereditary distillers in bourbon country.

This son has begun thrumming the strings of hereditary determinism, and is finding them holding taut.

Some naive types might say that this indicates an enormous hereditary factor as an explanation of successful coin-flipping.

After 33 years of working in a factory, Nowlin had developed a hereditary eye disease called Retinitis pigmentosa.

The public ceremony unveiling the wife of the newly anointed hereditary dictator of North Korea was anything but traditional.

Hereditary legislation in the twentieth century and the most civilized country in the world!

Membership in the Virginia Council was considered a position of the greatest prestige and was almost an hereditary position.

Being the hereditary Datto, the inhabitants of the valley generally sympathized with him, at least passively.

This the chapel owes to the residence of the royal family, whose passion and talent for music are hereditary.

No family history of epilepsy, insanity, nervous or other hereditary disorders in 59 per cent.

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hereditarianismhereditist