inherited

[in-her-i-tid]

adjective

1. received from or as if from one’s predecessors.

   Their wealth is from inherited properties, mostly through the estate of their mother’s parents.

   For the novelist Henry James, history, tradition, precedence, and established forms constituted the inherited wisdom of civilization.

2. received through genetic transmission.

   the family’s inherited trait of straight blond hair;

   kidney problems symptomatic of an inherited disorder.

3. Baseball.,  (of a base runner) allowed on base by a previous pitcher.

   The unlucky reliever balked, hit a batter, threw a wild pitch, allowed an inherited runner to score, and got only one out.

Other Word Forms

• half-inherited adjective
• noninherited adjective
• quasi-inherited adjective
• uninherited adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of inherited¹

First recorded in 1795–1800; inherit ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Maduro inherited a stacked Supreme Court from his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, that has systematically nullified opposition legislation.

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Don’t miss: ‘He forced me to take Social Security at 62’: My husband inherited millions, but never gave me a penny.

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Of the many things my kids inherited from me, one is a rare bone disease that creates rounded bone spurs throughout our bodies.

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He inherited from his father a chain of laundromats that he expanded too ambitiously.

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Yunus, 85, has championed the charter as his legacy, saying he inherited a "completely broken down" system and that reforms were needed to prevent a return to authoritarian rule.

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