hereditary
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.passed from a parent to a child through their genes.
adj.relating to the genetic transmission of physical or mental characteristics from parents to offspring.
Simple“The doctor asked if there was a hereditary history of heart disease in his family.”
In context“Researchers are investigating whether certain behavioral patterns are truly hereditary or simply the result of a shared domestic environment.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.passed to a child or relative after a person dies, usually referring to a title like 'King' or 'Lord'.
adj.descending by inheritance; describing a title, office, or right legally granted to a descendant upon the death of the holder.
Simple“In some countries, the position of head of state is a hereditary role.”
In context“The reform act significantly reduced the number of hereditary peers permitted to sit and vote in the upper house of parliament.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
adj.a special property in math where if a large group has a rule, all smaller parts inside it must also have that rule.
adj.describing a property of a structure such that every substructure of a given type also possesses that property.
Simple“The professor explained that being a planar graph is a hereditary property.”
In context“In graph theory, a class of graphs is hereditary if it is closed under taking induced subgraphs.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
n.a person who holds a high rank or position because their parents held it before them.
n.an individual who holds a title, rank, or seat in a legislative body by right of inheritance rather than election.
Simple“The new law changed how many hereditaries could stay in the government.”
In context“The debate centered on whether the hereditaries should retain their historical right to influence modern legislation.”
“The rule change will not affect his heir, Hereditary Prince Alois, who was his first-born.”
Inherited from Middle English hereditarie, from Latin hērēditārius, from hērēditās (“inheritance”), from hērēs (“heir”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.