Dictionary
he•red•i•tar•y
Pronunciation: (hu-red'i-ter"ē), [key]—
adj.
1. passing, or capable of passing, naturally from parent to offspring through the genes:
Blue eyes are hereditary in our family. Cf.
congenital.
2. of or pertaining to inheritance or heredity:
a hereditary title.
3. existing by reason of feeling, opinions, or prejudices held by predecessors:
a hereditary enemy.
4. Law.
a. descending by inheritance.
b. transmitted or transmissible in the line of descent by force of law.
c. holding title, rights, etc., by inheritance:
a hereditary proprietor.
5. Math.
a. (of a collection of sets) signifying that each subset of a set in the collection is itself a set in the collection.
b. of or pertaining to a mathematical property, as containing a greatest integer, applicable to every subset of a set that has the property.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.