Related Searches
Nearby Words
Synonyms

ancestor

 [an-ses-ter or, especially Brit., -suh-ster]   Example Sentences Origin

an·ces·tor

   [an-ses-ter or, especially Brit., -suh-ster]
noun
1.
a person from whom one is descended; forebear; progenitor.
2.
Biology. the actual or hypothetical form or stock from which an organism has developed or descended.
3.
an object, idea, style, or occurrence serving as a prototype, forerunner, or inspiration to a later one: The balloon is an ancestor of the modern dirigible.
4.
a person who serves as an influence or model for another; one from whom mental, artistic, spiritual, etc., descent is claimed: a philosophical ancestor.
5.
Law. a person from whom an heir derives an inheritance.
Find Your UK Ancestors www.thegenealogist.co.uk/ Free Trial - Parish Records, Wills, Census, BMDs & Non Conformists
Ad
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English ancestre < Old French (with t developed between s and r) < Latin antecessor antecessor

Can be confused: ancestor, descendant.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To ancestor

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Ancestor is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Example Sentences
  • Its primitive anatomy, he contends, suggests a species predating the common ancestor of the human and chimpanzee family trees.
  • The combined detective work of botanists, geneticists and archaeologists has been able to identify the wild ancestor of maize.
  • It is the conceptual ancestor of robots, cyborgs, and artificial intelligence.
EXPAND
Collins
World English Dictionary
ancestor (ˈænsɛstə)
 
—n
1.  (often plural) a person from whom another is directly descended, esp someone more distant than a grandparent; forefather
2.  an early type of animal or plant from which a later, usually dissimilar, type has evolved
3.  a person or thing regarded as a forerunner of a later person or thing: the ancestor of the modern camera
 
[C13: from Old French ancestre, from Late Latin antecēssor one who goes before, from Latin antecēdere; see antecede]
 
'ancestress
 
—fem n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

ancestor
c.1300, from O.Fr. ancestre (Mod.Fr. ancêtre), from L.L. antecessor "predecessor," lit. "foregoer," agent noun from L. antecessus, pp. of antecedere "precede," agent noun from ante- "before" (see ante) + cedere "to go" (see cede). Fem. form ancestress recorded from 1570s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Partners:WordBloglinesCitysearchThe Daily BeastAsk AnswersAsk KidsLife123SendoriThesaurus
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT