entail

[ verb en-teyl; noun en-teyl, en-teyl ]

/ verb ɛnˈteɪl; noun ɛnˈteɪl, ˈɛn teɪl /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR entail ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence: a loss entailing no regret.

to impose as a burden: Success entails hard work.

Law. to limit the passage of (a landed estate) to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be alienated, devised, or bequeathed.

Law. to cause (anything) to descend to a fixed series of possessors.

noun

the act of entailing.

Law. the state of being entailed.

any predetermined order of succession, as to an office.

Law. something that is entailed, as an estate.

Law. the rule of descent settled for an estate.

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without interest or significance; dull; insipid.

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Words nearby entail

ent, ent-, entablature, entablement, entad, entail, entailment, ental, entameba, entamebiasis, entamoeba

Origin of entail

1350–1400; Middle English entailen (v.), entail (noun). See en-¹, tail²

OTHER WORDS FROM entail

en·tail·er, nounen·tail·ment, nounnon·en·tailed, adjectivepre·en·tail, verb (used with object)

un·en·tailed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for entails

In fact, that candy store is heavy industry, with all the mess that entails.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban|Jay Michaelson|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
These entrepreneurs have chosen to incorporate as private businesses, with all the legal rights and privileges that entails.
Refusing to Marry Same-Sex Couples Isn’t Religious Freedom, It’s Just Discrimination|Sally Kohn|October 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the contemporary Western world, unless we are eating sandwiches or soup, almost every meal we eat now entails a fork.
The Strange Way We Eat: Bee Wilson’s ‘Consider the Fork’|Bee Wilson|October 13, 2012|DAILY BEAST
But this entails extraordinary risks and often months of planning.
Libya: Former Exiles Chafe Over Surge of Salafism|Jamie Dettmer|September 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Now Cindy Bullens is telling the world she has decided to be Cidny, a man—and is grappling with all that entails.
Singer Cindy Bullens Goes Public: She’s Becoming Cidny, a Man|Cidny Bullens|June 16, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Measuring the practice of entails by the rule of utility, Mr M'Culloch selects two points as the principal topics of discussion.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 64, No. 393, July 1848|Various
This entails another cigar, and it is wonderful how soon one o'clock in the morning comes round again.
M. or N. "Similia similibus curantur."|G.J. Whyte-Melville
It was a violent measure; but to hold a country in subjection against its will is itself an act of violence which entails others.
The Earl of Beaconsfield|James Anthony Froude
Upon this belief of his he bases nothing less than the dogma of the existence of God, which entails all the others.
Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature, Vol. III (of 6) The Reaction in France|Georg Brandes
It entails no obligations, and is as democratic as an electric car.
The Champagne Standard|Mrs. John Lane

British Dictionary definitions for entails

entail

/ (ɪnˈteɪl) /

verb (tr)

to bring about or impose by necessity; have as a necessary consequencethis task entails careful thought

property law to restrict (the descent of an estate) to a designated line of heirs

logic to have as a necessary consequence

noun

property law

the restriction imposed by entailing an estate
an estate that has been entailed

Derived forms of entail

entailer, noun

Word Origin for entail

C14: entaillen, from en- 1 + taille limitation, tail ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012