lexicow

inherit

/ɪnˈherɪt//ɪnˈherɪt/·verb
A plain grey iron nail stands on the bench, a couple of paperclips just lying on the ground beside it; by itself the nail does nothing. Then a red-and-blue bar magnet lowers and touches the nail's head — and at once the clips leap up and hang from the nail's tip, as though the nail had become a magnet too. Lift the magnet away and the clips drop straight back down. The nail never had any pull of its own; it only borrowed it, handed down for as long as the magnet was there.
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Definition

To inherit is to receive something handed down from a predecessor — money or property from a relative, a trait from a parent, a problem from whoever held the job before you. It comes from the Latin in- plus heres, 'heir'. The key is transmission from outside: what you inherit was someone else's first and is passed on to you — unlike an inherent quality, which a thing simply has of itself. A new manager inherits the team's old habits; brown eyes are inherited, not chosen.

Examples

  • She inherited a fortune her grandfather had spent a lifetime trying to accumulate.
  • It is an inherited condition, prevalent in his family for generations.
  • The new government inherited an economy in deep recession.

Collocations

inherit a fortune·inherit a trait·inherit the throne·inherit a problem·genetically inherited

Synonyms

come into·succeed to·be left·take over·be bequeathed

Antonyms

bequeath·earn

See also

Word family

inheritance (noun)·inheritor (noun)·inherited (adjective)·heritable (adjective)

In TOEFL & IELTS

Don't mix it up with its look-alike inherent: inherit is a VERB (you receive something passed down), while inherent is an ADJECTIVE (a quality built into a thing). Watch the endings — inherit ends -it, inherent ends -ent — and the prepositions: you inherit something FROM someone, but a quality is inherent IN something. Common in TOEFL biology (inherited traits) and history (inherit the throne).