Definition of inheritance Inheritance

/ɪnhɛˈɹʌtʌns/ - [inherutuns] - in•her•it•ance

We found 21 definitions of inheritance from 6 different sources.

What does inheritance mean?

WordNet

Noun Plural: inheritances
inheritance - that which is inherited; a title or property or estate that passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner
		heritage
		transferred possession, transferred property a possession whose ownership changes or lapses
		jurisprudence, law the branch of philosophy concerned with the law and the principles that lead courts to make the decisions they do
		primogeniture right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son
		borough english a former English custom by which the youngest son inherited land to the exclusion of his older brothers
		accretion (law) an increase in a beneficiary's share in an estate (as when a co-beneficiary dies or fails to meet some condition or rejects the inheritance)
		bequest, legacy (law) a gift of personal property by will
		patrimony, birthright a church endowment
		devise (law) a gift of real property by will
		heirloom something that has been in a family for generations
inheritance - (genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from the parents
		hereditary pattern
		genetic endowment, heredity the total of inherited attributes
		genetic science, genetics the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms
		ancestry, filiation, lineage, derivation inherited properties shared with others of your bloodline
		gene linkage, linkage the act of linking things together
		x-linked dominant inheritance hereditary pattern in which a dominant gene on the X chromosome causes a characteristic to be manifested in the offspring
inheritance - any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors; "my only inheritance was my mother's blessing"; "the world's heritage of knowledge"
		heritage
		attribute an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity
		birthright personal characteristics that are inherited at birth
		background (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
		birthright personal characteristics that are inherited at birth
inheritance - hereditary succession to a title or an office or property
		heritage
		acquisition the act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession of something; "the acquisition of wealth"; "the acquisition of one company by another"

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Wiktionary

inheritance (Noun)
The passing of title to an estate upon death.
inheritance (Noun)
That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament.
inheritance (Noun)
Biology The hereditary passing of biological attributes from ancestors to their offspring.
inheritance (Noun)
In object-oriented programming, the mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass.

Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘

inheritance (n.)
The act or state of inheriting; as, the inheritance of an estate; the inheritance of mental or physical qualities.
inheritance (n.)
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.
inheritance (n.)
A permanent or valuable possession or blessing, esp. one received by gift or without purchase; a benefaction.
inheritance (n.)
Possession; ownership; acquisition.
inheritance (n.)
Transmission and reception by animal or plant generation.
inheritance (n.)
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.

OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω

inheritance
That which a person in entitled to inherit.
inheritance
The mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass.
inheritance
The hereditary passing of biological attributes from the parents to its offspring.

Wikipedia

Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, and obligations when someone dies. Inheritance has been very important in human societies for a long time.

If only sons and other male family members get the inheritance, it is called patrilineal succession. If only daughters and other female family members get the inheritance, it is called matrilineal succession.

The person who gets the property and other things when someone dies is called the heir.
computer science
In Object-oriented programming languages, inheritance is a way to add functionality. Object-oriented programming has the notion of classes (and perhaps interfaces). A "derived class" inherits most fields and methods from its parent class. It can modify the behaviour of the parent, by adding new fields and methods, or by modifying existing ones. Depending on the programming language used, there may be certain restrictions when extending a class.
disambiguation
Inheritance is when people pass on property and debts when they die.