Inheritance

Quick meaning: Inheritance is a noun meaning The passing of title to an estate upon death.

Meaning

The passing of title to an estate upon death.

More Meanings

1. (countable) That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament, such as the part of an estate (i.e., a portion).
2. (uncountable, especially linguistics, biology) The act or mechanism of inheriting; the state of having inherited.
3. (biology, genetic algorithms) The biological attributes passed hereditarily from ancestors to their offspring.
4. (programming, object-oriented programming) The mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass.

Example Sentences

The Indo-European languages share various similarities as a result of their inheritance from a common ancestor.

Word Forms

• inheritances
• inheritaunce

Synonyms for inheritance

Depending on context, synonyms include heritage.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include heritage, legacy, bequest, probate, intestacy, heir.

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