inherit: Meaning and Definition of

in•her•it

Pronunciation: (in-her'it), [key]
— v.t.
  1. to take or receive (property, a right, a title, etc.) by succession or will, as an heir: to inherit the family business.
  2. to receive as if by succession from predecessors: the problems the new government inherited from its predecessors.
  3. to receive (a genetic character) by the transmission of hereditary factors.
  4. to succeed (a person) as heir.
  5. to receive as one's portion; come into possession of: to inherit his brother's old clothes.
—v.i.
  1. to take or receive property or the like by virtue of being heir to it.
  2. to receive qualities, powers, duties, etc., as by inheritance (fol. by from).
  3. to have succession as heir.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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