heiress

noun

heir·​ess ˈer-əs How to pronounce heiress (audio)
Synonyms of heiressnext
: a woman who is an heir especially to great wealth

Examples of heiress in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Rapper Annie is the first chaebol heiress K-pop idol. Jae-Ha Kim, Rolling Stone, 8 Dec. 2025 Harry Lawtey, left, plays Robert Spearing, a white working-class publican’s son; Marisa Abela, right, plays Yasmin Kara-Hanani, an Anglo-Lebanese publishing heiress. Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2025 The beach read queen notches her fifth consecutive GCA win with Great Big Beautiful Life, in which a sunny aspiring writer and a cranky literary icon compete to write the memoir of a shady octogenarian heiress. Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 4 Dec. 2025 His assignment ultimately is to track down a Wisconsin cheese heiress whose mobster family’s business somehow has massive geopolitical importance. Emma Alpern, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for heiress

Word History

Etymology

heir entry 1 + -ess

First Known Use

1607, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of heiress was in 1607

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Heiress.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heiress. Accessed 27 Dec. 2025.

Kids Definition

heiress

noun
heir·​ess ˈar-əs How to pronounce heiress (audio)
ˈer-
: a girl or woman who is an heir

More from Merriam-Webster on heiress

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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