Meaning & use

heredity

noun·Academic

The passing of physical or mental traits from parents to their offspring through genes.

See it in a sentence

Heredity explains why the twins share the same curly hair and dimples.

Doctors asked about heredity in the family to assess the patient's risk of the disease.

A note on using this word

Heredity names the biological process of inheritance itself, while 'genetics' more often names the science that studies it.

Words with a similar meaning

geneticsinheritance

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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