A person who expects to inherit but whose right can be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative.

Roget 779: possessor, holder; occupant, occupier; tenant; person in possession, man in possession etc. 777; renter, lodger, lessee, underlessee^†; zemindar^†, ryot^†; tenant on sufferance, tenant at will, tenant from year to year, tenant for years, tenant for life.    owner; proprietor, proprietress, proprietary; impropriator^†, master, mistress, lord.    land holder, land owner, landlord, land lady, slumlord; lord of the manor, lord paramount; heritor, laird, vavasour^†, landed gentry, mesne lord^†; planter.    cestui-que-trust [Fr.], beneficiary, mortgagor.    grantee, feoffee^†, releasee [Law], relessee^†, devisee; legatee, legatary^†.    trustee; holder of the legal estate &c.; mortgagee.    right owner, rightful owner.    [Future possessor] heir presumptive, heir apparent; heiress; inheritor, inheritress, inheritrix; reversioner^†, remainderman^†.    ... show more