entail
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence.
a loss entailing no regret.
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to impose as a burden.
Success entails hard work.
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Law. to limit the passage of (real estate) to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be transferred or bequeathed to anyone else.
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Law. to cause (anything) to descend to a fixed series of possessors.
noun
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the act of entailing.
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Law. the state of being entailed.
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any predetermined order of succession, as to an office.
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Law. something that is entailed, as an estate.
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Law. the rule of descent settled for an estate.
verb
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to bring about or impose by necessity; have as a necessary consequence
this task entails careful thought
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property law to restrict (the descent of an estate) to a designated line of heirs
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logic to have as a necessary consequence
noun
Other Word Forms
- entailer noun
- entailment noun
- preentail verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of entail
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Middle English entailen (verb), entail (noun), equivalent to en- 1 + tail 2 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Given all the conflicts that owning Warner Bros. would have entailed, every director, producer and actor in Hollywood would have been screaming “anticompetitive” anytime Netflix made a decision they didn’t like.
But as for what lazy cooking actually entails, it’s not super clear-cut.
From Salon
Much of it hinges on something decidedly low tech: the ability to build data centers as fast as humanly possible—and all the dealmaking, zoning and permitting that it entails.
An attack on Iran would still entail risk.
Another potential pitfall is a dispute over the construction of a flight of steps and a square as the main entrance to the facade of Glory, which would entail destroying blocks of adjacent homes.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
