entail: Meaning and Definition of

en•tail

Pronunciation: (v.en-tāl'n.en-tāl', en'tāl), [key]
— v.t.
  1. to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence: a loss entailing no regret.
  2. to impose as a burden: Success entails hard work.
  3. to limit the passage of (a landed estate) to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be alienated, devised, or bequeathed.
  4. to cause (anything) to descend to a fixed series of possessors.
—n.
  1. the act of entailing.
  2. the state of being entailed.
  3. any predetermined order of succession, as to an office.
  4. something that is entailed, as an estate.
  5. the rule of descent settled for an estate.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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