heir apparent

1. 1.

   an heir whose right to an inheritance cannot be defeated if that person outlives the ancestor

   Antonymsheir presumptive

   Broaderheir

Questions about heir apparent

What does heir apparent mean?

heir apparent means "an heir whose right to an inheritance cannot be defeated if that person outlives the ancestor".

What is the opposite of heir apparent?

The recorded antonyms are heir presumptive.

Is heir apparent a common word?

heir apparent is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.