

Apr 9, 2013 This week's theme

Terms from law



This week's words

lex loci

hereditament

suborn

mens rea

attorn

Terms from law A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg



hereditament PRONUNCIATION: (her-i-DIT-uh-ment)

MEANING: noun: Inheritable property.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin hereditare (to inherit), from heres (heir). Earliest documented use: 1461.

NOTES: Hereditament is of two kinds: corporeal and incorporeal. If your grandfather willed you his collection of Superman comics, that would be corporeal hereditament. If he awarded you only the right to read those comics from time to time, it'd be incorporeal hereditament.

USAGE: "The Panadura Recreation Club was established seventy years ago on a hereditament of land."

Indoor Badminton Court; Ceylon Daily News (Sri Lanka); Sep 7, 2002.



"Sir, having no disease, nor any taint

Nor old hereditament of sin or shame."

Sidney Lanier; Poems of Sidney Lanier; 1916.

See more usage examples of hereditament in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: The world, we are told, was made especially for man -- a presumption not supported by all the facts... Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation? -John Muir, naturalist and explorer (1838-1914)





We need your help



Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere



Donate