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hereditary

Pronunciation: /hɪˈrɛdɪt(ə)ri/

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Definition of hereditary

adjective

  • 1(of a title, office, or right) conferred by or based on inheritance:the Queen’s hereditary right to the throne
  • [attributive] (of a person) holding a position by inheritance:a hereditary peer
  • (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 either hereditary or environmental factors
  • relating to inheritance: the main objection to the hereditary principle is that such peers are not elected
  • 2 Mathematics (of a set) defined such that every element which has a given relation to a member of the set is also a member of the set.

Derivatives

hereditarily

adverb

hereditariness

noun

Origin:

late Middle English: from Latin hereditarius, from hereditas (see heredity)

hereditary in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of hereditary in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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