Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Money or property given to another by will.
  • noun Something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past: synonym: heritage.
  • noun An individual who is either an applicant to an educational institution or a matriculated student and is the child of an alumna or alumnus.
  • adjective Retained under an obsolescent or discarded system, chiefly for purposes of reference.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bequeath; assign as a legacy.
  • To leave a legacy to.
  • noun Money or other property left by will; a bequest; specifically, a gift of personalty by will as distinguished from a devise or gift of realty.
  • noun Anything bequeathed or handed down by an ancestor or a predecessor.
  • noun A business which one has received from another to execute; a commission; an errand.
  • noun Legation; embassy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A gift of property by will, esp. of money or personal property; a bequest. Also Fig..
  • noun A business with which one is intrusted by another; a commission; -- obsolete, except in the phrases last legacy, dying legacy, and the like.
  • noun a tax paid to government on legacies.
  • noun one who flatters and courts any one for the sake of a legacy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law money or property bequeathed to someone in a will
  • noun Something inherited from a predecessor; a heritage
  • noun The descendant of an alumnus
  • adjective computing of a computer system that has been in service for many years and that a business still relies upon, even though it is becoming expensive or difficult to maintain
  • adjective left behind; old or no longer in active use

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (law) a gift of personal property by will

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English legacie, office of a deputy, from Old French, from Medieval Latin lēgātia, from Latin lēgātus, past participle of lēgāre, to depute, bequeath; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French legacie, from Medieval Latin legatia, from Latin lēgātum, participle of lēgō.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word legacy.

Examples

  • How can the term legacy be used for a man who supported the murder of 49 million babies since

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2009

  • Sabre, back from college after being enrolled in the study-abroad program, is upset his title legacy has been tarnished by a woman.

    ImpactWrestling.com Week in Review 2009

  • Your college friend seems to have morphed into what I call a "legacy friend" a friend from the past with little currency in the present.

    Dr. Irene S. Levine: Legacy Friends: Keeping old friendships alive Dr. Irene S. Levine 2011

  • BP also said it would separately pay Bridas Corp. $700 million to settle claims between the two companies and to terminate what it called legacy restrictive covenants among BP, Pan American Energy and Bridas Corp. These allowed Pan American Energy to participate in any of BP's activities in the southernmost areas of South America.

    BP Says It Didn't Need to Sell Asset in Argentine Deal Guy Chazan 2011

  • But the legacy is a two-tier economy that is only slowly eroding.

    Wal-Mart Checks Out a New Continent Robb M. Stewart 2010

  • Your college friend seems to have morphed into what I call a "legacy friend" a friend from the past with little currency in the present.

    Dr. Irene S. Levine: Legacy Friends: Keeping old friendships alive Dr. Irene S. Levine 2011

  • BP also said it would separately pay Bridas Corp. $700 million to settle claims between the two companies and to terminate what it called legacy restrictive covenants among BP, Pan American Energy and Bridas Corp. These allowed Pan American Energy to participate in any of BP's activities in the southernmost areas of South America.

    BP Stays Positive as Oil Deal Fails Guy Chazan 2011

  • Either way, the legacy is a troubling one: he was, in one reading, willing to sell (or at least lease) his faith for political porridge, or he really believed his private beliefs could be quarantined from his political actions (Mario Cuomo, anyone?).

    What is Sen. Ted Kennedy's "Catholic legacy"? 2009

  • Either way, the legacy is a troubling one: he was, in one reading, willing to sell (or at least lease) his faith for political porridge, or he really believed his private beliefs could be quarantined from his political actions (Mario Cuomo, anyone?).

    Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: 2009

  • We probably won't hear much from him for the next five years, but his legacy is there.

    Thorne: Kent's bristly personality can't erase Hall of Fame career 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "Word sleuths advise me that 'legacy' derives from an ancient Indo-Aryan root meaning 'it wasn't my fault, and I should still get a bonus this year even though we lost billions of dollars.'"

    -- The Peril Of Financial Linguistics, Newsweek, online March 28, 2009

    March 31, 2009