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Definition of "entail" []

  • To have, impose, or require as a necessary accompaniment or consequence: The investment entailed a high risk. The proposition X is a rose entails the proposition X is a flower because all roses are flowers. (verb-transitive)
  • To limit the inheritance of (property) to a specified succession of heirs. (verb-transitive)
  • To bestow or impose on a person or a specified succession of heirs. (verb-transitive)
  • The act of entailing, especially property. (noun)
  • The state of being entailed. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "entail" in a sentence
  • "TVGuide. com: What does your job as team captain entail?"
  • "You admit that your first impression of what an Obama administration would entail is incorrect."
  • "The public's ignorance of the idiocies endemic to the EOIR's business as usual and the calamities these entail is no accident."