disinherit
Americanverb (used with object)
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disinherits,
present (3rd person singular)
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disinherited,
past participle, past
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disinheriting
present participle
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Law. to exclude from inheritance (an heir or a next of kin).
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to deprive of a heritage, country, right, privilege, etc..
the disinherited peoples of the earth.
verb
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law to deprive (an heir or next of kin) of inheritance or right to inherit
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to deprive of a right or heritage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disinheritsimple
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disinheritssimple
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have disinheritedperfect
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has disinheritedperfect
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am disinheritingprogressive
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are disinheritingprogressive
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is disinheritingprogressive
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have been disinheritingperfect progressive
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has been disinheritingperfect progressive
Past
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disinheritedsimple
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had disinheritedperfect
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was disinheritingprogressive
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were disinheritingprogressive
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had been disinheritingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disinherit
Explanation
When you disinherit someone, you decide not to leave that person anything in your will. Your eccentric grandfather might threaten to disinherit you because of your dirty fingernails. You need to have written a will — a document that lists where you want your money and property to go after your death — in order to disinherit someone. When your wealthy relative actually removes your name from her will, she officially disinherits you. The word inherit is at the heart of disinherit, with its old-fashioned meaning, "make someone an heir." When you add the Latin prefix dis, "not," you take away the inheritance altogether.
Vocabulary lists containing disinherit
Confessions of a Murder Suspect
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Part 3 Vocabulary (Unit 2)
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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:
“A parent can disinherit a child, leaving them nothing,” according to Albertson & Davidson, a law firm with offices across southern California.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 15, 2025
Jose was planning to disinherit the brothers because he considered them failures, according to court filings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2025
Fleming severed his relationship with Monique after his mother threatened to disinherit him, an act that would reverberate across his lifetime in pangs of sadness and despair.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2024
He told the jury White “wants to disinherit his two brothers. Teddy wants it all.”
From Washington Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
“If you’re not in Gryffindor, we’ll disinherit you,” said Ron, “but no pressure.”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Nearly every state in the U.S. has a version of California’s slayer statute, which effectively disinherits beneficiaries who’ve “feloniously and intentionally” killed their benefactors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
When Daemon's conduct becomes intolerable, Viserys disinherits and banishes him.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2022
If she disinherits me, her only child, I can’t make it up to my half-siblings.
From Slate ● Oct. 12, 2021
He disinherits Lewis, leaving him only the ill-fated collection.
From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2015
My husband's will disinherits me, as soon as I give up the name of Wildenau.
From On the Cross A Romance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau by Wilhelmine von Hillern
A bitter man, George Tennyson had been disinherited by his own father and forced into holy orders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
“I believe there was a will that disinherited us somewhere,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
Howard Thurman said, “There is one overmastering problem that the socially and politically disinherited always face: under what terms is survival possible?”
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2024
Years ago I asked to be disinherited but was explicitly denied.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2022
Out of the magazines I read came a passionate call for the experiences of the disinherited, and there were none of the lame lispings of the missionary in it.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
But for Marcus to follow this precedent would mean disinheriting his child.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
She must understand what it means and the effect it will have — in this case, disinheriting her other legal heirs.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 30, 2025
Another post suggested disinheriting children, and deploying "your thoughts about the estrangement in the will as a last word."
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2024
If your spouse isn’t willing, you can talk to the attorney about your options, but understand that disinheriting them may not be possible.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2021
Whether this was only exercised when there was no father, or whether a wife could act in this way independently of her husband in disinheriting children, does not appear.
From Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters by C. H. W. (Claude Hermann Walter) Johns
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.
