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:
Every generation seems to inherit one cultural panic after another.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Immune cells produced by those stem cells inherit the same mutations.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
“Young people everywhere will inherit the environmental legacy we build today,” said Yana Garcia, California secretary for environmental protection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
"I didn't inherit a record. I earned it."
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Lázaro has no sons to inherit his legacy and his daughters reject it outright.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
The lateral septum inherits much of its primary input from a brain region called the hippocampus.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
"It inherits the credibility of the map it was born on."
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
He inherits a daunting agenda, including a housing crisis gripping London.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
And if she inherits appreciated assets, there will be capital gains considerations.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 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
Eleven of the 30 children have now taken commercial DNA tests which show they have inherited genetic ancestry from Turkey or surrounding countries.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Because the more Seemiller studies Gen Z, the more she finds a generation responding rationally to the world it inherited — not inventing entirely new values out of thin air.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
My friend inherited the house and hopes to retain it under the Medicaid hardship waiver.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Problems can occur, especially in people with poor kidney function or rare inherited conditions, which is why this is not a harmless wellness drip to be sold on the high street.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
The Greeks had inherited their numbers from the geometric Egyptians.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Kanin’s attorneys argue the disbursement delay was caused by incomplete records and due diligence concerns — worries further snarled by the so-called slayer statute barring Californians from inheriting from people they have killed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
He said his successor would be inheriting a Britain that is stronger and fairer than two years ago.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
The choice is watching grandchildren struggle for 30 years then inheriting money when it matters least, or strategic funding now that may compound into generational wealth.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
"Non-Mendelian patterns of inheriting epigenetics could be a faster way to acquire diverse or new traits than alterations in the genomic sequence itself, especially in response to environmental pressures," says Andrew Feinberg, M.D.,
From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026
Einsteinian physics can thus be regarded as inheriting the results of Newtonian physics while going far beyond them.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
