Inheritance

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: in=her=it=ance

CIDE DICTIONARY

Inheritance, n. [Cf. OF. enheritance.].

•  The act or state of inheriting; as, the inheritance of an estate; the inheritance of mental or physical qualities.  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is or may be inherited; that which is derived by an heir from an ancestor or other person; a heritage; a possession which passes by descent.  [1913 Webster]

  "When the man dies, let the inheritance
  Descend unto the daughter."  [1913 Webster]
•  A permanent or valuable possession or blessing, esp. one received by gift or without purchase; a benefaction.  [1913 Webster]

  "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away."  [1913 Webster]
•  Possession; ownership; acquisition.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "To you th' inheritance belongs by right
  Of brother's praise; to you eke 'longs his love."  [1913 Webster]
•  Transmission and reception by animal or plant generation.  [1913 Webster]
•  A perpetual or continuing right which a man and his heirs have to an estate; an estate which a man has by descent as heir to another, or which he may transmit to another as his heir; an estate derived from an ancestor to an heir in course of law.  Blackstone.  [1913 Webster]

  " The word inheritance (used simply) is mostly confined to the title to land and tenements by a descent."  Mozley & W.  [1913 Webster]

  "Men are not proprietors of what they have, merely for themselves; their children have a title to part of it which comes to be wholly theirs when death has put an end to their parents' use of it; and this we call inheritance."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Inheritance, n.
1 something that is inherited.
2 a the act of inheriting. b an instance of this.

Idiom

inheritance tax a tax levied on property etc. acquired by gift or inheritance.

Usage

Introduced in the UK in 1986 to replace Capital Transfer Tax.

Etymology

ME f. AF inheritaunce f. OF enheriter: see INHERIT

THESAURUS

Inheritance

Altmann theory, DNA, De Vries theory, Galtonian theory, Mendelianism, Mendelism, RNA, Verworn theory, Weismann theory, Weismannism, Wiesner theory, allele, allelomorph, attested copy, bequeathal, bequest, birth, birthright, borough-English, character, chromatid, chromatin, chromosome, codicil, coheirship, coparcenary, determinant, determiner, devise, diathesis, endowment, entail, eugenics, factor, gavelkind, gene, genesiology, genetic code, genetics, heirloom, heirship, hereditability, hereditament, heredity, heritability, heritable, heritage, heritance, inborn capacity, incorporeal hereditament, inheritability, law of succession, legacy, line of succession, matrocliny, mode of succession, patrimony, patrocliny, pharmacogenetics, postremogeniture, primogeniture, probate, property, recessive character, replication, reversion, succession, testament, ultimogeniture, will

ROGET THESAURUS

Inheritance

Acquisition

N acquisition, gaining, obtainment, procuration, procurement, purchase, descent, inheritance, gift, recovery, retrieval, revendication, replevin, restitution, redemption, salvage, trover, find, trouvaille, foundling, gain, thrift, money-making, money grubbing, lucre, filthy lucre, pelf, loaves and fishes, the main chance, emolument, profit, earnings, winnings, innings, pickings, net profit, avails, income, proceeds, produce, product, outcome, output, return, fruit, crop, harvest, second crop, aftermath, benefit, sweepstakes, trick, prize, pool, pot, wealth, subreption, obreption, stealing, acquiring, acquired, profitable, advantageous, gainful, remunerative, paying, lucrative, lucri causa.

Possession

N possession, seizin, seisin, ownership, occupancy, hold, holding, tenure, tenancy, feodality, dependency, villenage, villeinage, socage, chivalry, knight service, exclusive possession, impropriation, monopoly, retention, prepossession, preoccupancy, nine points of the law, corner, usucaption, future possession, heritage, inheritance, heirship, reversion, fee, seigniority, primogeniture, ultimogeniture, futures contract, warrant, put, call, option, right of first refusal, bird in hand, uti possidetis, chose in possession, possessing, worth, possessed of, seized of, master of, in possession of, usucapient, endowed with, blest with, instinct with, fraught with, laden with, charged with, possessed, on hand, by one, in hand, in store, in stock, in one's hands, in one's grasp, in one's possession, at one's command, at one's disposal, one's own, unsold, unshared, entbehre gern was du nicht hast, meum et tuum, tuum est.

Property

N property, possession, suum cuique, meum et tuum, ownership, proprietorship, lordship, seignority, empire, interest, stake, estate, right, title, claim, demand, holding, tenure, vested interest, contingent interest, beneficial interest, equitable interest, use, trust, benefit, legal estate, equitable estate, seizin, seisin, absolute interest, paramount estate, freehold, fee tail, fee simple, estate in fee, estate in tail, estate tail, estate in tail male, estate in tail female, estate in tail general, limitation, term, lease, settlement, strict settlement, particular estate, estate for life, estate for years, estate pur autre vie, remainder, reversion, expectancy, possibility, dower, dowry, jointure, appanage, inheritance, heritage, patrimony, alimony, legacy, Falcidian law, paternal estate, thirds, assets, belongings, means, resources, circumstances, wealth, money, what one is worth, what one will cut up for, estate and effects, landed property, landed real estate property, realty, land, lands, tenements, hereditaments, corporeal hereditaments, incorporeal hereditaments, acres, ground, acquest, messuage, toft, territory, state, kingdom, principality, realm, empire, protectorate, sphere of influence, manor, honor, domain, demesne, farm, plantation, hacienda, allodium, fief, fieff, feoff, feud, zemindary, dependency, arado, merestead, ranch, free lease-holds, copy lease-holds, folkland, chattels real, fixtures, plant, heirloom, easement, right of common, right of user, personal property, personal estate, personal effects, personalty, chattels, goods, effects, movables, stock, stock in trade, things, traps, rattletraps, paraphernalia, equipage, parcels, appurtenances, impedimenta, luggage, baggage, bag and baggage, pelf, cargo, lading, rent roll, income, maul and wedges, patent, copyright, chose in action, credit, debt, one's own, landed, predial, manorial, allodial, free lease-hold, copy lease-hold, feudal, feodal, to one's credit, to one's account, to the good, to one and his heirs for ever, to one and the heirs of his body, to one and his heirs and assigns, to one and his executors administrators and assign.

Life

N life, vitality, viability, animation, vital spark, vital flame, soul, spirit, respiration, wind, breath of life, breath of one's nostrils, oxygen, air, respirator, artificial respirator, heart and lung machine, iron lung, medical devices, lifeblood, Archeus, existence, vivification, vital force, vitalization, revivification, Prometheus, life to come, physiology, biology, animal ecology, nourishment, staff of life, genetics, heredity, inheritance, evolution, natural selection, reproduction (production), microbe, aerobe, anaerobe, facultative anaerobe, obligate aerobe, obligate anaerobe, halophile, methanogen, archaebacteria, microaerophile, animal, vegetable, artificial life, robot, robotics, artificial intelligence, breathing, breathing rate, heartbeat, pulse, temperature, preservation of life, healing (medicine), living, alive, in life, in the flesh, in the land of the living, on this side of the grave, above ground, breathing, quick, animated, animative, lively, all alive and kicking, tenacious of life, full of life, yeasty, vital, vitalic, vivifying, vivified viable, zoetic, Promethean, vivendi causa, atqui vivere militare est, non est vivere sed valere vita.