as in genetic
genetically passed or capable of being passed from parent to offspring eye and hair color are hereditary

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word hereditary different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of hereditary are congenital, inborn, inbred, and innate. While all these words mean "not acquired after birth," congenital and hereditary refer to what is acquired before or at birth, the former to things acquired during fetal development and the latter to things transmitted from one's ancestors.

a congenital heart murmur
eye color is hereditary

When might inborn be a better fit than hereditary?

While the synonyms inborn and hereditary are close in meaning, inborn suggests a quality or tendency either actually present at birth or so marked and deep-seated as to seem so.

her inborn love of nature

When can inbred be used instead of hereditary?

The synonyms inbred and hereditary are sometimes interchangeable, but inbred suggests something either acquired from parents by heredity or so deeply rooted and ingrained as to seem acquired in that way.

inbred political loyalties

Where would innate be a reasonable alternative to hereditary?

While in some cases nearly identical to hereditary, innate applies to qualities or characteristics that are part of one's inner essential nature.

an innate sense of fair play

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hereditary Adrenal tumors or congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a group of hereditary adrenal gland disorders, can cause these glands to make too many androgens (male hormones), leading to high testosterone.1 5. Brandi Jones, Health, 6 June 2025 This hereditary disease causes your body to absorb too much iron from your diet. Suchandrima Bhowmik, Health, 24 May 2025 One of the Clarksons likely received the Magna Carta at some point in the early 1800s from William Lowther, the hereditary lord of Appleby manor. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 15 May 2025 By Jennie Erin Smith His story—part clinical, part familial—forms the core of Valley of Forgetting, Jennie Erin Smith’s book on memory, medicine, and hereditary fate in rural Colombia. Marion Renault, The Atlantic, 13 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for hereditary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hereditary
Adjective
  • High concentration of oxalate in the urine is known as hyperoxaluria and can be caused by certain genetic disorders or by eating large amounts of foods high in oxalate such as spinach, chocolate, nuts and rhubarb.
    Daryl Austin, USA Today, 23 June 2025
  • Once extracted, researchers began to compare the genetic material discovered to previous samples.
    Nick Butler, FOXNews.com, 21 June 2025
Adjective
  • Performance Trade-Offs: Real-time applications face inherent constraints due to the computational overhead of symbolic reasoning, knowledge graph traversal and the general reduction in inference speeds compared to pure neural approaches.
    Anuradha Weeraman, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
  • The fibers’ inherent comfort also resonates with lifestyle brands like Ugg.
    SJ Studio, Sourcing Journal, 30 June 2025
Adjective
  • Quoting the late American historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Horn said Jewish culture makes a distinction between history and memory, and Jews are more interested in memory: investing a historical event with eternal, inheritable meaning.
    Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 8 Apr. 2025
  • Our vision is that the future of design will have a long lasting inheritable quality.
    Sydney Gore, Architectural Digest, 6 Feb. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hereditary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hereditary. Accessed 7 Jul. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on hereditary

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!