[syn: ancestral, hereditary, patrimonial, transmissible]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hereditary \He*red"i*ta*ry\, a. [L. hereditarius, fr. hereditas
heirship, inheritance, fr. heres heir: cf. F.
h['e]r['e]ditaire. See Heir.]
1. Descended, or capable of descending, from an ancestor to
an heir at law; received or passing by inheritance, or
that must pass by inheritance; as, an hereditary estate or
crown.
[1913 Webster]
2. Transmitted, or capable of being transmitted, as a
constitutional quality or condition from a parent to a
child; as, hereditary pride, bravery, disease.
Syn: Ancestral; patrimonial; inheritable.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
hereditary
adj 1: occurring among members of a family usually by heredity;
"an inherited disease"; "familial traits"; "genetically
transmitted features" [syn: familial, genetic,
hereditary, inherited, transmitted,
transmissible]
2: inherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal
rules) of descent; "ancestral home"; "ancestral lore";
"hereditary monarchy"; "patrimonial estate"; "transmissible
tradition" [syn: ancestral, hereditary, patrimonial,
transmissible]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
43 Moby Thesaurus words for "hereditary":
ancestral, atavistic, bequeathed, bodily, born, coeval, congenital,
connatal, connate, connatural, constitutional, genetic, genic,
handed down, heritable, in the blood, inborn, inbred, incarnate,
indigenous, inheritable, inherited, innate, instinctive,
instinctual, matroclinous, native, native to, natural, natural to,
organic, patrimonial, patroclinous, physical, plasmatic, plasmic,
primal, protoplasmic, temperamental, traditional, transferable,
transmissible, willed