hereditary
Syllables: he·red·i·ta·ryUK/həˈɹɛdɪt(ə)ɹi//həˈɹɛdɪˌtɛɹi/
hereditary adjective: passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate.
Adjective
hereditary (comparative more hereditary, superlative most hereditary)
- Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate.
- Of a title, honor or right: legally granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death.
- Duke is a hereditary title which was created in Norman times.
- Synonyms:
- lineal
- Of a person: holding a legally hereditary title or rank.
- hereditary rulers
- Of a disease or trait: passed from a parent to offspring in the genes.
- Haemophilia is hereditary in his family.
- Xanthuria is an hereditary disorder in which there is an absence of the enzyme xanthine oxidase which interferes with the metabolic breakdown of purines, leading to an increased excretion of xanthine in the urine and to formation of stones.1985, Urology, volume 2, page 12
- Of a ring: such that all submodules of projective modules over the ring are also projective.
- Of a property of graphs: such that if G has the property, so must every induced subgraph of G.
Noun
hereditary (plural hereditaries)
- A hereditary ruler; a hereditary peer in the House of Lords.
hereditary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hereditary in Hindi
- which is passed on as inheritance
- पैतृक paitŕk, ख़ानदानी xāndānī, आनुवंशिक ānuvañśik, वंशागत vañśāgat, पुश्तैनी puśtainī, मौरूसी maurūsī
- of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- ख़ानदानी xāndānī, आनुवंशिक ānuvañśik, वंशागत vañśāgat, पैतृक paitŕk, पुश्तैनी puśtainī, मौरूसी maurūsī
- of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
- ख़ानदानी xāndānī, आनुवंशिक ānuvañśik, पुश्तैनी puśtainī, मौरूसी maurūsī, वंशानुक्रमिक vañśānukramik
hereditary in Tamil
- பரம்பரை, மரபுடைமை, மரபுவழி
hereditary in Marathi
- वंशपरंपरागत, आनुवंशिक
hereditary in Urdu
- آبائی, جدی, موروثی, نسلی, پیڑھی درپیڑھی
More languagesFewer languages
- hereditary in Bengali
- কৌলিক kōulik
- hereditary in Telugu
- వంశపారంపర్యంగా, వంశపారంపర్య
- hereditary in Malayalam
- പരമ്പരാസിദ്ധമായ, പരമ്പരാഗതമായ, ജന്മനാ
- hereditary in Kannada
- ತಲೆಮಾರಿನ, ತಲೆಮೊರೆಯ
- hereditary in Punjabi
- ਵੰਸ਼ਿਕ, ਵੰਸ਼ਗਤ
- hereditary in Gujarati
- વંશપરંપરાગત, વારસાગત
- hereditary in Odia
- ବଂଶାନୁକ୍ରମିକ, ବଂଶଗତ
- hereditary in Nepali
- वंशानुगत, वंशपरंपरागत
- hereditary in Tagalog
- manahin
- hereditary in Thai
- เป็นกรรมพันธ์
Examples of hereditary in a sentence
- Some traditional societies have a single hereditary tribal chief, others a whole hierarchy of elected tribal chiefs, etc.
- Some of the hereditary peers can trace their family’s presence in the Lords back to medieval times.
- Xanthine calculi are seen in patients with hereditary xanthuria and those undergoing treatment with allopurinol.
Synonyms of hereditary
Antonyms
Forms of hereditary
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more hereditary |
| superlative | most hereditary |
| Noun | |
| plural | hereditaries |
Origin of hereditary
Inherited from Middle English hereditarie, from Latin hērēditārius, from hērēditās (“inheritance”), from hērēs (“heir”).
Words formed from hereditary
Phrases with hereditary
Questions about hereditary
- What does hereditary mean?
- Hereditary means passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate.
- What is hereditary in Hindi?
- Hereditary in Hindi is पैतृक (paitŕk), ख़ानदानी (xāndānī), आनुवंशिक (ānuvañśik). See Hereditary meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hereditary?
- Hereditary can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce hereditary?
- Hereditary is pronounced /həˈɹɛdɪt(ə)ɹi/ (UK).
Words near hereditary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hereditary (page history and authors); hereditary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hereditary (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hereditary (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); কৌলিক (Bengali) (page history and authors); hereditary (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hereditary (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hereditary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hereditary (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hereditary (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hereditary (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hereditary (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-hereditary.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hereditary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hereditary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.