Lexic.us

Definition of Inheritance

1. Noun. Hereditary succession to a title or an office or property.

2. Noun. That which is inherited; a title or property or estate that passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner.

3. Noun. (genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from the parents.

4. Noun. Any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors. "The world's heritage of knowledge"

Definition of Inheritance

1. n. The act or state of inheriting; as, the inheritance of an estate; the inheritance of mental or physical qualities.

Definition of Inheritance

1. Noun. The passing of title to an estate upon death. ¹

2. Noun. That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament. ¹

3. Noun. (biology) The hereditary passing of biological attributes from ancestors to their offspring. ¹

4. Noun. (computing) In object-oriented programming, the mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Inheritance

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Inheritance

1. 1. The act or state of inheriting; as, the inheritance of an estate; the inheritance of mental or physical qualities. 2. That which is or may be inherited; that which is derived by an heir from an ancestor or other person; a heritage; a possession which passes by descent. "When the man dies, let the inheritance Descend unto the daughter." (Shak) 3. A permanent or valuable possession or blessing, especially. One received by gift or without purchase; a benefaction. "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." (1 Pet. I. 4) 4. Possession; ownership; acquisition. "The inheritance of their loves." "To you th' inheritance belongs by right Of brother's praise; to you eke longs his love." (Spenser) 5. Transmission and reception by animal or plant generation. 6. A perpetual or continuing right which a man and his heirs have to an estate; an estate which a man has by descent as heir to another, or which he may transmit to another as his heir; an estate derived from an ancestor to an heir in course of law. The word inheritance (used simply) is mostly confined to the title to land and tenements by a descent. "Men are not proprietors of what they have, merely for themselves; their children have a title to part of it which comes to be wholly theirs when death has put an end to their parents' use of it; and this we call inheritance." (Locke) Origin: Cf. OF. Enheritance. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Inheritance

inherences inherencies inherency inherent inherent aptitude inherent power inherent powers inherently inheres inhering

inherit inheritability inheritable inheritableness inheritably inheritance (current term) inheritance powder inheritance tax inheritance taxes inheritances

inherited inherited albumin variants inherited character inherited disease inherited disorder inherited wealth inheriter inheriters inheriting inheritor

Literary usage of Inheritance

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Report by North Dakota State Budget Board (1912)
"inheritance TAX HISTORY. "We hear much discussion today of the plan of taxation upon inheritances, and we are apt to gather the impression that the idea of ..."

2. Two Treatises of Government by John Locke (1824)
"Of monarchy, by inheritance from Adam. § 81. THOUGH it be ever so plain, that there ought to be government in the world, nay, should all men be of our ..."

3. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1904)
""Mathematical Contributions to the Theory of Evolution. XII. —On a Generalised Theory of Alternative inheritance, with Special Reference to Mendel's Laws. ..."

4. Principles of Economics by Frank William Taussig (1921)
"inheritance ction 1. The fact of inequality: distribution has a roughly pyramidal form. Figures indicating the distribution of income for Prussia, ..."

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