heiress

noun

heir·​ess ˈer-əs How to pronounce heiress (audio)
: a woman who is an heir especially to great wealth

Examples of heiress in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Both of her parents came from money: Her father was a major shareholder in Lloyd’s, and her mother, Carol (Timmis) Dugdale, was an heiress. Clay Risen, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024 And when the chips were down, when people really needed help, the whaling heiress turned independent investor, business tycoon, and world’s wealthiest woman often used her fortune to save the day. Bywill Daniel, Fortune, 17 Mar. 2024 His wife, Brooke Brown Barzun, is an heiress of the Brown-Forman wine and spirits empire. Eleanor McCrary, The Courier-Journal, 15 Mar. 2024 On January 13, the Peltz heiress shared a series of photos from her 29th birthday party, cohosted by the Gomez and her boyfriend Benny Blanco. Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 14 Jan. 2024 Costar Sarah Snook won in the leading actress category for portraying fictional Roy family's steely heiress Siobhan (a.k.a. Lanford Beard, Peoplemag, 8 Jan. 2024 Rebuilding a Lost Waterfront: An heiress to the L.L. Bean fortune and a fan of the arts, Linda Bean has enlisted the artist Jamie Wyeth to help undo the damage of a fire in Port Clyde. Dave Philipps, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2024 Marjorie Merriweather Post, the cereal heiress who had Mar-a-Lago built for her, imagined that it might be used as a winter White House after her death, but the estate was too expensive and too difficult to keep secure. Antonia Hitchens, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2024 Here’s everything to know about Nicky Hilton’s husband and his relationship with the hotel heiress. Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 8 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heiress.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

heir entry 1 + -ess

First Known Use

1607, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of heiress was in 1607

Dictionary Entries Near heiress

Cite this Entry

“Heiress.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heiress. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

heiress

noun
heir·​ess ˈar-əs How to pronounce heiress (audio)
ˈer-
: a girl or woman who is an heir

More from Merriam-Webster on heiress

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