| Library / English Dictionary |
HEREDITY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The total of inherited attributes
Synonyms:
genetic endowment; heredity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("heredity" is a kind of...):
property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "heredity"):
hereditary pattern; inheritance ((genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from the parents)
Derivation:
hereditary (occurring among members of a family usually by heredity)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("heredity" is a kind of...):
biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)
Derivation:
hereditary (occurring among members of a family usually by heredity)
Context examples:
I am sure that you cannot fail to be delighted with the traces of heredity shown in the p’s and in the tails of the g’s.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Cancer Genetics; the science of heredity and the biological process of transmission of characteristics from progenitor to offspring, especially concerning a heritable predisposition to cancer susceptibility.
(Cancer Genetics, NCI Thesaurus)
The branch of genetics focusing on human heredity.
(Human Genetics, NCI Thesaurus)
Heredity accounts for up to 35 percent of small intestinal carcinoid, a rare digestive cancer, according to findings from a team at the National Institutes of Health.
(Study finds genetic link for rare intestinal cancer, NIH)
Genes are the building blocks of heredity.
(Genetic Disorders, NIH: National Library of Medicine)
You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Heredity is the passing of genetic information and traits (such as eye color and an increased chance of getting a certain disease) from parents to offspring.
(Genetics, NCI Dictionary)
His heredity was a life-stuff that may be likened to clay.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Far more potent were the memories of his heredity that gave things he had never seen before a seeming familiarity; the instincts (which were but the memories of his ancestors become habits) which had lapsed in later days, and still later, in him, quickened and become alive again.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
