birthright

noun

birth·right | \ ˈbərth-ˌrīt

How to pronounce birthright (audio)

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Definition of birthright

: a right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth

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Examples of birthright in a Sentence

the freedom that is our birthright believed that the house was her birthright

Recent Examples on the Web

For white men across the Western world, special rights and privileges once came as a birthright. — New York Times, "On Social Media’s Fringes, Growing Extremism Targets Women," 9 May 2018 Overall, 65% of Americans said birthright citizenship should continue, including 90% of Clinton voters. — Gerald F. Seib, WSJ, "The Wall Marks a Deep Cultural Divide," 21 Jan. 2019 And lucky for Arthur, Mera feels the same way, giving up her highborn birthright to marry ornery Orm, and choosing instead to travel with Arthur to the Sahara Desert and Sicily to find clues regarding the whereabouts of the super trident. — Alex Abad-santos, Vox, "Aquaman goes for broke and lands somewhere between overstuffed marine opera and cheesy comic book fun," 11 Dec. 2018 For a century, aces were baseball’s studs, grabbing the mound for Game 1 as if by birthright and not letting go easily. — Ronald Blum, The Seattle Times, "Aces out: Sale, Kershaw chased early in Series opener," 23 Oct. 2018 The open display of effort signals that the candidates are not acting upon their birthright. — Rachel Sugar, Vox, "Mostly sweat.," 6 Nov. 2018 Irish citizens voted 79% to 21% to end birthright citizenship in a 2004 referendum. — Dave Seminara, WSJ, "Constitutional Ways to Curb ‘Birth Tourism’," 11 Nov. 2018 Despite claims by Trump, at least 30 countries offer birthright citizenship, including Canada and almost every country in Central and South America. — Christianna Silva, Teen Vogue, "Trump's Plan to Revoke Birthright Citizenship Is Another Attack on Immigrants," 30 Oct. 2018 Black activists promoted birthright as the standard by which their belonging should be measured. — Martha S. Jones, Time, "How the 14th Amendment's Promise of Birthright Citizenship Redefined America," 9 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'birthright.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

21 Apr 2019

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Time Traveler for birthright

The first known use of birthright was in 1535

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More Definitions for birthright

birthright

noun

English Language Learners Definition of birthright

: a right that you have because you were born into a particular position, family, place, etc., or because it is a right of all people

See the full definition for birthright in the English Language Learners Dictionary

birthright

noun

birth·right | \ ˈbərth-ˌrīt

\

Kids Definition of birthright

: a right belonging to a person because of his or her birth

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