Translate hereditary | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish Definition of hereditary
adjective
(of a title, office, or right) conferred by or based on inheritance:members of the ancient Polish aristocracy who had hereditary right to elect the king [attributive] (of a person) holding a position by inheritance:I am the hereditary chief of the Piscataway people (of a characteristic or disease) determined by genetic factors and therefore able to be passed on from parents to their offspring or descendants:cystic fibrosis is our most common fatal hereditary disease of or relating to inheritance:a form of hereditary succession and dynastic rule became standard practice Mathematics (of a set) defined such that every element that has a given relation to a member of the set is also a member of the set.