From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishheredityhe‧red‧i‧ty /həˈredəti/ noun [uncountable] HBMthe process by which mental and physical qualities are passed from a parent to a child before the child is born → genetics
Examples from the Corpus
heredity• Remember what we said about heredity?• Other factors such as heredity and the physical environment play a major role as well.• He said that three factors had caused my arteries to be blocked: heredity, poor diet, and lack of exercise.• In their efforts to curb immorality purists carefully distanced themselves from a world view totally determined by heredity.• The prevailing theory held that protein was most likely the material conveying heredity.• The experimental study of heredity led Bateson to breeding studies and soon to the newly rediscovered laws of Mendelian heredity.Origin heredity (1500-1600) French hérédité, from Latin hereditas, from heres; → HEIR 