Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A right, possession, or privilege that is one's due by birth.
- noun A special privilege accorded a firstborn.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Any right or privilege to which a person is entitled by birth, such as an estate descendible by law to an heir, or civil liberty under a free constitution; specifically, the right of primogeniture.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Any right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth, such as an estate descendible by law to an heir, or civil liberty under a free constitution; esp. the rights or inheritance of the first born.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun something owed since
birth , due toinheritance .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a right or privilege that you are entitled to at birth
- noun an inheritance coming by right of birth (especially by primogeniture)
- noun personal characteristics that are inherited at birth
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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DEAL: Well, the United States is in a small minority of countries in the world that continue to grant what we call birthright citizenship, and that is, to grant citizenship to a child regardless of the legal status of the parents.
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There were valid arguments on both sides, but generally the race-blind believers in birthright made a better case: that ten of the thirteen original states allowed free black men to vote; that Americans of African descent had been recognized as citizens by the federal government in various ways (even Andrew Jackson had hailed his free black soldiers as "fellow citizens" after the Battle of New Orleans).
Van Gosse: Birthright Citizenship Is Bedrock Americanism Van Gosse 2010
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Perhaps they will need more than some mere railings outside No. 10 to resist the righteous anger of the British people whose birthright is so casually being stolen.
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Our birthright is the propensity to dream, dance, and evolve.
- Boing Boing 2007
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Perhaps they will need more than some mere railings outside No. 10 to resist the righteous anger of the British people whose birthright is so casually being stolen.
Archive 2007-09-02 2007
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With the calls of moderate Republican senators Lindsay Graham and John McCain to change the law to end what is known as "birthright citizenship," the issue is no longer relegated to the fringe.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Howard Foster 2012
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Arwen herself makes the decision to remain in Middle Earth (which makes her a less passive character than in the book), and the consequence of giving up her birthright is that she will die if Aragorn and his allies do not save their world from Sauron’s rule.
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Lessons from Lord of the Rings, Part 2 2006
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Restore to them their stolen childhoods, their birthright, which is a taste of heaven.
Bradley Burston: A Jew's Prayer for the Children of Gaza 2009
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Their birthright is the right to be tried in a court of law by an independent judiciary when accused of a crime.
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This has nothing to do with our American birthright, which is government by the consent of the governed.
Printing: Exclusive Interview with Democracy Warrior, Nancy Tobi 2009
sionnach commented on the word birthright
See mess of pottage
September 27, 2009