heritable
Americanadjective
-
capable of being inherited; inheritable
-
law capable of inheriting
Other Word Forms
- heritability noun
- heritably adverb
- nonheritability noun
- nonheritable adjective
- nonheritably adverb
- unheritable adjective
Etymology
Origin of heritable
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French, equivalent to herit(er) “to inherit” + -able ( see -able); see heir, heredity
Compare meaning
How does heritable compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Vocabulary lists containing heritable
Evolutionary Biology - Natural Selection - Middle School
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Evolutionary Biology - Adaptation
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Evolutionary Biology - Natural Selection - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"We hope this new technique of visualizing synaptic membrane dynamics in live brain tissue samples can help us understand similarities and differences in nonheritable and heritable forms of the condition," Watanabe says.
From Science Daily • Dec. 1, 2025
But Mr. Zipperstein builds a biography that shuttles us back to the fiction, heritable or not, where the man hid in plain sight.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025
In fact, molecular biologists believe that neurodivergent conditions arise due to a combination of heritable and environmental factors.
From Salon • Mar. 2, 2025
IVF aims to help couples achieve pregnancy when medical issues or concerns about heritable genetic mutations raise concerns about the health of their prospective offspring.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2024
As I write this, organisms endowed with genomes are learning to change the heritable features of organisms endowed with genomes.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
