Meaning & use
heritage
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The customs, history, beliefs and achievements that a community or family has handed down and still values today.
Grammar: Usually singular: a rich heritage; no plural in this sense.
Patterns
- cultural heritage
- a heritage of something
- someone's heritage
The festival celebrates the island's Celtic heritage.
She is proud of her Mexican heritage.
Children learn about their national heritage in school.
noununcountable
Old buildings, landscapes and objects that are protected because they are important to a country's history.
Grammar: Often before a noun: a heritage site, a heritage building.
Patterns
- a heritage site
- heritage building
The old harbor is now protected as heritage.
Volunteers work to preserve the town's industrial heritage.
The castle is a heritage site that attracts thousands of visitors.
nounsingularformal
A trait or ability that you receive from your family or ancestors, or more broadly something you inherit from the past.
Grammar: With a possessive: his heritage; often followed by of.
Patterns
- a heritage of something
The region carries a heritage of hard work.
He felt the weight of his family's musical heritage.
A heritage of mistrust still divides the two villages.
Common combinations
- cultural heritage
- The museum protects the nation's cultural heritage.
- rich heritage
- The city has a rich heritage of trade.
- heritage site
- The temple was named a heritage site.
- preserve our heritage
- We must preserve our heritage for the next generation.
- national heritage
- The old library is part of the national heritage.
- ethnic heritage
- She shares dishes from her ethnic heritage.
Synonyms and how they differ
- legacy
- Legacy usually refers to what a specific person or event leaves behind, while heritage is shared tradition from many past generations.
- tradition
- A tradition is one custom handed down, while heritage is the whole body of such things.
- inheritance
- Inheritance often means money or property received from a relative, whereas heritage is mostly cultural.
- birthright
- Birthright means a right you have from being born into a group, and is stronger and more legal-sounding than heritage.
Word family
- heritable adjective
- able to be passed on by genes
- inherit verb
- to receive from someone who has died, or through genes
- heir noun
- a person entitled to inherit
- hereditary adjective
- passed down by genes or by family right
Commonly confused: heritage or heredity?
heritage vs heredity
Heredity is the biological passing of genes from parents to children; heritage is culture, history and tradition.
Practice
The group works to protect the city's architectural ___.
Choose one answer.
Heritage is the noun for valued history and old buildings. Heredity is about genes, hereditary is an adjective, and inherit is a verb, so none of those fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “heritage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.