plural legacies
1
: a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : bequest
She left us a legacy of a million dollars.
2
: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past
the legacy of the ancient philosophers
The war left a legacy of pain and suffering.
3
: a candidate for membership in an organization (such as a school or fraternal order) who is given special status because of a familial relationship to a member
Legacies, or children of alumni, are three times more likely to be accepted to Harvard than other high school graduates with the same (sometimes better) scores …—
Michael Lind
Michael Lind1
: of, relating to, or being a previous or outdated computer system
transfer the legacy data
a legacy system
2
: of, relating to, associated with, or carried over from an earlier time, technology, business, etc.
And it is about more than just TV—newspapers, magazines, radio, all the "legacy" media are feeling the earth move beneath them. Journalists look out and see thousands of empty campus TV lounges and newsprint-less recycling bins and millions of iPads and smart phones and they wonder what's coming next.—Dante Chinni
Dante ChinniFollowing ISG's takeover, 100,000 Bethlehem retirees and their dependents also lost their medical coverage, and they will get only a fraction of their original pension benefits. Avoiding those expenses, known as legacy costs, will save ISG more than $400 million a year.—Nelson D. Schwartz
Nelson D. Schwartz
Did you know?
In its basic meaning, a legacy is a gift of money or other personal property that's granted by the terms of a will—often a substantial gift that needs to be properly managed. But the word is used much more broadly as well. So, for instance, much of Western civilization—law, philosophy, aesthetics— could be called the undying legacy of ancient Greece. And the rights and opportunities that women enjoy today are partly the legacy of the early suffragists and feminists.
Synonyms
Examples of legacy in a Sentence
Noun
She left us a legacy of a million dollars.
He left his children a legacy of love and respect.
The war left a legacy of pain and suffering.
Her artistic legacy lives on through her children.
Recent Examples on the Web
Esther Kang, People.com, 9 Dec. 2024
Lara Trump said her father-in-law is focused on his legacy during his final upcoming term.
—Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 9 Dec. 2024
Frederick Hess, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024
An analysis of Harvard admissions data, which became public through the court case, found that the acceptance rate for legacy applicants from 2010 to 2015 was 33.6 percent, about 5.7 times higher than the acceptance rate for non-legacy applicants.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2023
See all Example Sentences for legacy 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Shortly after, Gifford paid tribute to Kotb's legacy on Today with a touching statement shared on X (formerly known as Twitter).
—Esther Kang, People.com, 9 Dec. 2024
Lara Trump said her father-in-law is focused on his legacy during his final upcoming term.
—Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 9 Dec. 2024
Adjective
California colleges that violate the law are instructed to report some data points to the state, such as the admission rates for legacy and non-legacy applicants.
—Frederick Hess, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024
An analysis of Harvard admissions data, which became public through the court case, found that the acceptance rate for legacy applicants from 2010 to 2015 was 33.6 percent, about 5.7 times higher than the acceptance rate for non-legacy applicants.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2023
See all Example Sentences for legacy
Dictionary Entries Near legacy
Cite this Entry
“Legacy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legacy. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
legacy
noun
leg·a·cy
ˈle-gə-sē 
plural legacies
: a gift of property by will
—
conjoint legacy
in the civil law of Louisiana
: a legacy by a single disposition to more than one legatee or of indivisible property to more than one legatee
—
demonstrative legacy
\
di-ˈmän-strə-tiv-
\
: a legacy payable from a designated fund or asset or from the general assets of the estate to the extent the specified fund or asset fails to satisfy the legacy
—
general legacy
: a legacy payable out of the general assets of the estate
—
legacy under a universal title
in the civil law of Louisiana
: a legacy that consists of a specified proportion (as one-half), a specified type (as movables), or a specified proportion of a specified type of the testator's property
—
particular legacy
in the civil law of Louisiana
: any legacy that is not a universal legacy or a legacy under a universal title
called also legacy under particular title
—
residuary legacy
: a legacy that consists of all of the testator's estate which has not been distributed through other legacies or charges upon the estate
—
specific legacy
: a legacy payable only from a specific fund or asset in the estate
—
universal legacy
in the civil law of Louisiana
: a legacy by which a testator gives to one or more legatees all of his or her property at the time of death
Etymology
Noun
Medieval Latin legatio, from Latin legare to bequeath
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share