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intestate

[in-tes-teyt, -tit]
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adjective
  1. (of a person) not having made a will: to die intestate.
  2. (of things) not disposed of by will: Her property remains intestate.
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noun
  1. a person who dies intestate.
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Origin of intestate

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin intestātus, equivalent to in- in-3 + testātus testate
Can be confusedinterstate intestate intrastate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for intestate

Historical Examples

  • Administration of his goods was granted to her as the widow of an intestate in May, 1695.

    Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Volume II

    Henry Vaughan

  • It followed, then, that the property reverted to the heirs-at-law as of an Intestate.

    The History of Peru

    Henry S. Beebe

  • If she dies in his lifetime, she can have no other intestate successor.

  • If any children of the intestate are dead, how does it descend?

  • Richard Malden's death, and his own relationship to the intestate had been legally proved and established.

British Dictionary definitions for intestate

intestate

adjective
    1. (of a person) not having made a will
    2. (of property) not disposed of by will
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noun
  1. a person who dies without having made a will
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Compare testate
Derived Formsintestacy, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Latin intestātus, from in- 1 + testātus, from testārī to bear witness, make a will, from testis a witness
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

Word Origin and History for intestate

adj.

late 14c., from Old French intestat (13c.) and directly from Latin intestatus "having made no will," from in- "not" (see in- (1)) + testatus, past participle of testari "make a will, bear witness" (see testament). As a noun, "one who has not made out a will," from 1650s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper