MEANING
1. To receive money, property, or possessions from someone who has died.
2. To receive characteristics from your parents through the genes they pass on.
3. To receive a role, situation, or problem from someone or something that came before.
Use it for
describing possessions passing to a survivor; explaining who receives a dead relative’s property; connecting a house or object with a deceased owner; showing an inheritance shaping a character’s lifeDistinguishes receiving a dead person’s possessions from receiving biological traits or a predecessor’s circumstances. Writing functions: Death / Mortality.
Words that belong together
- inherit an estate
- inherit property from someone
- inherit a family home
On the page
She inherited the house, along with every unopened letter in its attic.
He had expected to inherit a watch, not responsibility for the entire neglected farm.
She inherited her mother’s dark eyes and her father’s red hair.
He had inherited the same blood disorder as his older brother.
The new caretaker inherited years of neglected repairs.
Word forms
- Base
- inherit
- Past tense
- inherited
- Past participle
- inherited
- Present participle
- inheriting
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- inherit
- Present continuous
- am/is/are inheriting
- Present perfect
- have/has inherited
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been inheriting
- Past
- inherited
- Past continuous
- was/were inheriting
- Past perfect
- had inherited
- Past perfect continuous
- had been inheriting
- Future
- will inherit
- Future continuous
- will be inheriting
- Future perfect
- will have inherited
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been inheriting
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Transitive or intransitive verb: inherit property from someone; inherit from a relative. Forms: inherits; inherited; inherited; inheriting. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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