hereditary

[huh-red-i-ter-ee]

adjective

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

   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

/ -trɪ, hɪˈrɛdɪtərɪ /

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

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.

Other Word Forms

• hereditarily adverb
• hereditariness noun
• nonhereditarily adverb
• nonhereditariness noun
• nonhereditary adjective
• quasi-hereditary adjective

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

Synonym Study

See innate.

Example Sentences

Last year, MPs backed plans to get rid of hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

From BBC

Tim has a separate, hereditary kidney condition, called polycystic kidney disease.

From BBC

Dubai is ruled as an absolute monarchy, with a hereditary royal family at the head of government, and was found by Amnesty international to jail political prisoners.

From BBC

The Earl of Devon is what he calls an "unashamed" proponent of hereditary peers.

From BBC

Huntington's is a hereditary disorder that slowly damages the brain, affecting the ability to walk, talk, eat, drink, make decisions and live independently.

From BBC

Related Words

• genetic 
• inborn 
• transmitted www.thesaurus.com