inherit
Americanverb (used with object)
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inherits,
present (3rd person singular)
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inherited,
past participle, past
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inheriting
present participle
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to take or receive (property, a right, a title, etc.) by succession or will, as an heir.
to inherit the family business.
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to receive as if by succession from predecessors.
the problems the new government inherited from the previous administration.
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to receive (a genetic character or trait) by the transmission of hereditary factors.
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to succeed (a person) as heir.
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to receive as one's portion; come into possession of.
to inherit his brother's old clothes.
verb (used without object)
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inherits,
present (3rd person singular)
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inherited,
past participle, past
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inheriting
present participle
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to take or receive property or the like by virtue of being heir to it.
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to receive qualities, powers, duties, etc., as by inheritance (followed byfrom ).
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to have succession as heir.
verb
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to receive (property, a right, title, etc) by succession or under a will
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(intr) to succeed as heir
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(tr) to possess (a characteristic) through genetic transmission
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(tr) to receive (a position, attitude, property, etc) from a predecessor
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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inheritornoun
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inheritressnoun
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reinheritverb
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preinheritverb (used with object)
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inheritedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inheritsimple
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inheritssimple
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have inheritedperfect
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has inheritedperfect
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am inheritingprogressive
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are inheritingprogressive
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is inheritingprogressive
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have been inheritingperfect progressive
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has been inheritingperfect progressive
Past
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inheritedsimple
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had inheritedperfect
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was inheritingprogressive
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were inheritingprogressive
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had been inheritingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inherit
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English en(h)erit(i)en, from Middle French enheriter, from Late Latin inhērēditāre “to make heir”; see in- 3, hereditary
Explanation
When your grandmother dies, you might inherit her tea set. Regardless of her death, you might inherit her sense of humor or rather large nose. To inherit is to receive from a predecessor. When you are talking about property, inherit is always used to describe something you get after someone else has died. However, there doesn't have to be a death involved to use the word inherit. When you start a new job, you might inherit less than pleasant tasks from the person who had the job before you. You might also quickly inherit their desire to find a new place to work.
Vocabulary lists containing inherit
Word Generation Science - Life Science
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Genetics - Inheritance and Variation of Traits
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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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:
With a huge transfer under way, you may inherit shares of companies that you dislike.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
A spouse is the only person who can inherit an HSA tax-free, and the owner must name him or her as the beneficiary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
My current estate plan: My will currently provides for Son #1 to inherit 60% of the business, with his share increasing by 2% for each additional year he works in the business.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Summoning the will to surrender that power he’d trained all his life to inherit, to the Guardians of the Universe ordering him to betray his friend, is a Herculean act.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Since Mom was the older of the two children, Grandma Smith had asked her which house she wanted to inherit.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
When a second spouse inherits everything, they can write a will and leave the entire estate to their own children, a subsequent spouse or even their favorite charities, cutting off the deceased spouse’s biological children.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
While genes linked to it can run in families, not everyone who inherits one of these will necessarily experience a reaction with anaesthesia.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The Angel Stadium lease that Kroenke inherits requires the team name to “include the name Anaheim therein.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
The lateral septum inherits much of its primary input from a brain region called the hippocampus.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
The next part of the will would read: "Whichsoever pair made the most money with the ten thousand dollars inherits the whole estate."
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
"We inherited a system that is difficult and unfair on young people, but we weren't able to move on that today," she told the BBC.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
By the mid-20th century, this inherited relationship with the macabre migrated from home altars and rural folk traditions into the pavement of urban youth cultures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
These earlier observations helped researchers recognize that antibodies blocking IL-10 could produce effects similar to inherited defects involving the same protein or its receptor.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
The result, she says, is a deep inherited mistrust: Mizrahim don’t hate Arabs, and even feel cultural affinity with them, but they will not trust a Muslim majority to guarantee their safety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Certainly it required some philosophy, and some inherited technology.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
We want the intimacy of a home without necessarily inheriting all the obligations of maintaining one.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
Burnham took office in July, inheriting a sluggish economy and government debts that are close to 94% of annual economic output.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
John Ternus takes over as Apple's chief executive on Tuesday, inheriting a company that towers over the smartphone market but trails its rivals in artificial intelligence.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
Emery has achieved this after inheriting a squad that was 14th in the table, three points above the relegation zone, in November 2022.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
He owned Rays Funeral Home after inheriting it from his father.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
