heir
noun
Simple meaning
Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehrIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɛɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
A person who inherits some title or office
One who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office.
A person who is entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit the estate of another
“As the sole heir, she inherited the house and all its contents.”
A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
Used this way, heir is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An heir whose right to an inheritance cannot be defeated if that person outlives the ancestor.
The person legally entitled to inherit the property of someone who dies intestate.
A person who expects to inherit but whose right can be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative.
The responsibility of an executor (or administrator) of an estate to act in the best interests of the heir.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A female heir.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- successionnoun
- fortunenoun
- inheritancenoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: someone who inherits or or is designated to inherit
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.