Definition of "inherit" []

• To receive (property or a title, for example) from an ancestor by legal succession or will. (verb-transitive)
• To receive by bequest or as a legacy. (verb-transitive)
• To receive or take over from a predecessor: The new administration inherited the economic problems of the last four years. (verb-transitive)
• Biology To receive (a characteristic) from one's parents by genetic transmission. (verb-transitive)
• To gain (something) as one's right or portion. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "Excepting the wrong use of the term inherit, we were not prepared to dispute the old gentleman's ideas respecting the origin of his disease."
• "What can we do to ensure that the America our children inherit is better in the future?"
• "In the context of what it means to be an American today, we must examine the values that we inherit from the pioneers and frontiersmen, and how they relate to the future of our nation in the world."