as in heir
a person who has the right to inherit property
the couple had no children, so they declared their nephew their only legatee
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of legatee
The old immigrants are likely to remain—in the manner of the occasional Wasp legatee (Wagner, Lindsay) who poked in during the buoyant sixties—more visitors to wars over civic power than victors in them.
—
Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
Trump and allies, meanwhile, often cast him as legatee of Reagan.
—David Jackson, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2024
Since at least World War I, some legatees of Ivy League privilege have deployed their advantages to oppose injustices and support workers, often against these defectors’ own comfortable families’ and college classmates’ interests, and often at some risk to themselves.
—Jim Sleeper, The New Republic, 4 Sep. 2023
The couple whom Perry sees on the house tour are at once beneficiaries of the school’s past participation in slavery and legatees of an effort of historical recovery that Swarns’s book both chronicles and carries forward.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 27 June 2023
Humans, as legatees of this heritage, learn by seeing and visualizing.
—Stephen Jay Gould, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
Columbus was not, as is well-known to the ungrateful modern-day legatees of his conquest, a perfect man.
—John Hirschauer, National Review, 14 Oct. 2019
Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
Trump and allies, meanwhile, often cast him as legatee of Reagan.
—David Jackson, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2024
Since at least World War I, some legatees of Ivy League privilege have deployed their advantages to oppose injustices and support workers, often against these defectors’ own comfortable families’ and college classmates’ interests, and often at some risk to themselves.
—Jim Sleeper, The New Republic, 4 Sep. 2023
The couple whom Perry sees on the house tour are at once beneficiaries of the school’s past participation in slavery and legatees of an effort of historical recovery that Swarns’s book both chronicles and carries forward.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 27 June 2023
Humans, as legatees of this heritage, learn by seeing and visualizing.
—Stephen Jay Gould, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
Columbus was not, as is well-known to the ungrateful modern-day legatees of his conquest, a perfect man.
—John Hirschauer, National Review, 14 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for legatee
heir
Noun
-
Saif al-Islam Gadhafi was once seen as the heir-apparent to his dictator father –– who was executed after his regime was toppled at the height of the Arab Spring protests in 2011 –– and had in recent years been making a play to return to politics in Libya.—
Nic Robertson,
CNN Money,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Pine has been chosen, unconsciously or not, by Roper as his heir and executioner.—
Max Gao,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Legatee.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/legatee. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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