1. a branch of a family; lineage or stock
Usage: formal; legal
2. in biology, a permanent variety or race within a species
Usage: technical; biology

Examples

• The lawyer traced the inheritance through each stirps of the family tree.
• Legal documents must account for all members of each stirps when distributing assets.
• The royal stirps maintained its claim to the throne for centuries.
• Geneticists identified a distinct stirps within the population.
• Each stirps of descendants received an equal share of the estate.
• The biological stirps showed unique adaptive characteristics.