Meaning & use
heir
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Meanings
nouncountablelegal
Someone who has the legal right to receive money, property or a title when the owner dies.
Grammar: Often used with to: an heir to the estate.
Patterns
- heir to something
- heir of someone
She is the sole heir to her grandfather's farm.
The king had no heir, so the throne passed to his nephew.
The heirs argued over the old house.
nouncountablefigurative
A person who continues the work, ideas or tradition of a predecessor.
Grammar: Figurative; usually with to: heir to a tradition.
Patterns
- heir to something
He saw himself as heir to the great jazz tradition.
The young designer is the heir to the brand's style.
The new coach is the natural heir to the old one's methods.
Word forms
| plural | heirs |
|---|
Common combinations
- heir to the throne
- The prince is the heir to the throne.
- sole heir
- As the sole heir, she inherited everything.
- rightful heir
- He claimed to be the rightful heir.
- heir apparent
- The vice president is the heir apparent.
- legal heir
- The court named a legal heir.
Synonyms and how they differ
- successor
- A successor takes over a position, while an heir inherits property or a title by right.
- inheritor
- Inheritor is rarer, but heir is the standard legal word.
- beneficiary
- A beneficiary receives something named in a will, but need not be family.
- descendant
- A descendant comes from your family line but may inherit nothing.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: heir or air? heir or ere?
heir vs air
Air and heir sound the same, but air is what we breathe.
heir vs ere
Ere is an old word for before, sounding like heir but unrelated.
Practice
Which word sounds the same as 'heir' but means something we breathe?
Choose one answer.
Air is a homophone of heir. Hair and here look similar but sound different.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “heir”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.