legacy
Americannoun
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legacies
plural
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Law. a gift of property, especially personal property, such as money, by will; a bequest.
- Synonyms:
- inheritance
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anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.
the legacy of ancient Rome.
- Synonyms:
- inheritance
-
an applicant to or student at the alma mater of their parent or parents.
As a legacy, he worried that professors would expect him to be less qualified than his peers.
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Obsolete. the office, function, or commission of a legate.
adjective
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of or relating to old or outdated computer hardware, software, or data that, while still functional, does not work well with up-to-date systems.
Legacy systems put you at greater risk of cyberattacks.
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of or relating to an existing system, process, or state of affairs inherited from the past and typically a burden.
legacy pollutants;
a legacy drainage system.
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being or relating to a university applicant or student whose parent or other close relative attended the same school.
The admissions policies of most Ivy League schools favor legacy applicants.
noun
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a gift by will, esp of money or personal property
-
something handed down or received from an ancestor or predecessor
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(modifier) surviving computer systems, hardware, or software
legacy network
legacy application
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of legacy
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English legacie “office of a deputy or legate,” from Medieval Latin lēgātia, from Latin lēgāt(us) “deputy” ( see legate) + -ia, noun suffix ( cf. -acy)
Explanation
Use the word, legacy, for something handed down from one generation to the next. A retiring company president might leave a legacy of honesty and integrity. Legacy comes from the Latin verb, legare "to appoint by a last will, send as an ambassador." Originally, the noun meant "ambassador" or "envoy" but soon shifted to mean the money and property a person leaves behind in his will. Many university scholarships are funded by the legacies of former students. In recent usage, political leaders are said to be concerned with their legacies, the historically significant achievements of their tenure in office.
Vocabulary lists containing legacy
Maniac Magee
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Starting Your New Life: Inspiring Words from Commencement Speeches
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That's a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Washington, meanwhile, famously made relinquishing power part of his own legacy.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
The Department for Health added that where "legacy technologies" were still being used, any patient information should be "handled securely and in line with data protection requirements".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Wearing the watch is, as much as anything, a chance to participate in its legacy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
He knew what the American Revolution had promised, that slavery violated that promise, and that Franklin had gone to his Maker reminding all concerned that silence was a betrayal of the revolutionary legacy.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Yet many of these widows, daughters, and other female successors were also savvy political operators, leaving behind genuine legislative legacies or winning office in their own right.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
Both have won four Grand Slam titles, been top of the world rankings and built their legacies on hard courts.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
As America’s 250th anniversary approached, I asked historians, journalists, military leaders and public servants to identify one lesson from the legacies of presidents and first ladies that speaks to the present.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
One of Greenspan’s most enduring legacies at the Fed was the way in which the dour and bespectacled New Yorker helped unravel the central bank’s mystique.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
These legacies may include the Uto-Aztecan languages of Mesoamerica and the western United States, the Oto-Manguean languages of Mesoamerica, the Natchez-Muskogean languages of the U.S.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
