HEREDITY Synonyms: 34 Similar and Opposite Words

heredity

noun

Definition of heredity

as in blood

formal the natural process by which physical and mental qualities are passed from a parent to a child Heredity plays no part in the disease.

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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 heredity To truly understand genes and heredity, researchers had to learn to read the DNA code. — Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR, 7 Nov. 2025 In short, heredity advancement driven by desire. — D. Scott Schmid, Denver Post, 22 Sep. 2025 For people who are profoundly deaf, there is an interruption of the sound signal to the auditory nerve, which can be caused by illness, trauma, or heredity. — IEEE Spectrum, 27 Jan. 2022 The institution of the caliphate, now based on the twin principles of force and heredity, was further degraded from the middle of the tenth century with the rise of Turko-Persian military fiefdoms. — Mohammed Ayoob, Foreign Affairs, 3 Apr. 2016 See All Example Sentences for heredity

Recent Examples of Synonyms for heredity

Noun

The American Red Cross has declared an emergency blood shortage after the supply fell 25% in June.

— Mary Ella Hastings July 16, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 July 2026
Butlers are kicked in the shins and told their children are ugly; a patriarch’s idiotic military decisions are venerated for their spirit; blood spilling out of a servant’s wound is more an issue for the rug.

— Diana Arterian, Literary Hub, 16 July 2026

Definition of blood

Noun

The case was built by forensic genetic genealogy, which is the same science that traced DNA family trees to find the Golden State Killer in California and help solve the Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin, Texas.

— Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 16 July 2026
Othram, based in The Woodlands, Texas, specializes in advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy, a method that can help investigators identify suspects or unknown victims when traditional law enforcement databases do not produce a match.

— Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 5 July 2026

Definition of genealogy

Noun

Late last year, MLS created the succession committee, chaired by LAFC co-owner Bennett Rosenthal and Columbus Crew owner Jimmy Haslam, which retained The Miles Group (TMG) to help advise on the process.

— Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 17 July 2026
In this high-stakes setting, the kingdom’s royal family has been plagued by a 30-year curse that targets the line of succession.

— Kayti Burt, Time, 17 July 2026

Definition of succession

Noun

Retrieve a Golden volunteer Gretchen Austin told WDTV 5 that Skye had been rescued from a commercial breeding facility before joining the Aho family.

— Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 12 July 2026
For years, the only factory breeding sterile flies in the Western Hemisphere was in Panama, but the USDA invested $21 million to convert a site in southern Mexico from breeding fruit flies to recently start breeding screwworm flies.

— John Hanna, Chicago Tribune, 10 July 2026

Definition of breeding

Noun

That effectively restricted membership of the imperial family to immediate relatives of then Emperor Hirohito, pruning 11 collateral branches, and setting the scene for the current shortage.

— Hanako Montgomery, CNN Money, 14 July 2026
Stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.

— CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 14 July 2026

Definition of relatives

Noun

The Viking Row, an homage to Norway’s Viking ancestry, mirrors the energy of soldiers arriving to shore, ready for battle.

— Michael Butler, Miami Herald, 11 July 2026
Broward county has more than 128k residents of Haitian ancestry, and WLRN reported that more than 100k Haitian TPS holders live in South Florida.

— Elijah Manley, Sun Sentinel, 9 July 2026

Definition of ancestry

Noun

Fighting two battles at once Last year in the United States, the number of births among women ages 35 to 39 was up by 90% since 1990, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

— Theara Coleman, TheWeek, 13 July 2026
Just over 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, the razor-sharp 18th-century novelist’s influence over popular culture shows no signs of waning.

— Radhika Seth, Vogue, 13 July 2026

Definition of birth

Noun

The family fought for three hours last July Fourth to stay alive after more than a summer’s worth of rain fell overnight on bone-dry soil, pushing the waterway from about 3 feet to 30 feet in just 45 minutes.

— Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN Money, 6 July 2026
History shows family successions, whether in North Korea or Syria, tend to happen through rigid authoritarian control, with the transfer of power underwritten by whoever controls the military.

— Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 6 July 2026

Definition of family

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heredities

heredity

hereinbelow

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“Heredity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heredity. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of heredity

noun

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