hereditary

[ huh-red-i-ter-ee ]
/ həˈrɛd ɪˌtɛr i /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR hereditary ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

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.
  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.
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.

Origin of hereditary

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin hērēditārius relating to inheritance, equivalent to hērēdit(ās) inheritance, heredity + -ārius -ary

SYNONYMS FOR hereditary

1, 2 See innate.
3 ancestral, traditional.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR hereditary ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM hereditary

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH hereditary

heritable hereditary inheritable (see synonym study at the current entry)

Words nearby hereditary

heredia, hereditable, hereditament, hereditarian, hereditarianism, hereditary, hereditary angioneurotic edema, hereditary cerebellar ataxia, hereditary cerebral leukodystrophy, hereditary chorea, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia

Words related to hereditary

genetic, inborn, ancestral, family, inbred, inherited, maternal, paternal, traditional, patrimonial, bequeathed, genealogical, heritable, inheritable, lineal, transmissible

Example sentences from the Web for hereditary

British Dictionary definitions for hereditary

hereditary
/ (hɪˈrɛdɪtərɪ, -trɪ) /

adjective

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

Derived forms of hereditary

hereditarily, adverb hereditariness, noun

Medical definitions for hereditary

hereditary
[ hə-rĕd′ĭ-tĕr′ē ]

adj.

Transmitted or capable of being transmitted genetically from parent to offspring.

Scientific definitions for hereditary

hereditary
[ hə-rĕd′ĭ-tĕr′ē ]

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

Cultural definitions for hereditary

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.