entailed

American  

[en-teyld] / ɛnˈteɪld /

adjective

1. involved with or following from something by logical necessity or as a consequence.

   Most of the public complied with the curfew restrictions despite the entailed inconvenience.

   If the entailed proposition turns out to be false, the theory that generated it must also be false.

2. Law. (of real estate) limited to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be transferred or bequeathed to anyone else.

   This entailed estate has belonged to the family for a period of 300 years.

3. Law. descending to a fixed series of possessors, as a title, the crown, etc..

   On the death of his uncle Edward, Duke of York, Richard acquired the entailed title of his grandfather Edmund, Duke of York.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of entail.

Other Word Forms

• nonentailed adjective
• unentailed adjective

Etymology

Origin of entailed

First recorded in 1525–35; entail ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; entail ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

Both these jobs entailed prolonged, ego-deflating battles; both ended in professional debacle.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

"But I would tell them this, they haven't a clue what this investigation has entailed," he told the Tucson Sentinel newspaper this week.

From BBC • Mar. 8, 2026

Filings also note a $1 million payment to Weiss that entailed compensation for family members and payments to his personal American Express card, and a $205,500 disbursement to Stitsky “including salary to a fictitious person.”

From Barron's • Mar. 4, 2026

And while we’ve never really had the full gory details and what that’s entailed, it’s obviously been a subject of informed speculation.

From Slate • Feb. 4, 2026

“It appears not: I fancy neither she nor her sister have very large fortunes. Old Lord Ingram’s estates were chiefly entailed, and the eldest son came in for everything almost.”

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë