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View synonyms for progenitor

progenitor

[ proh-jen-i-ter ]

noun

  1. a biologically related ancestor:

    a progenitor of the species.

  2. a person or thing that first indicates a direction, originates something, or serves as a model; predecessor; precursor:

    the progenitor of modern painting.



progenitor

/ prəʊˈdʒɛnɪtə /

noun

  1. a direct ancestor
  2. an originator or founder of a future development; precursor


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Other Words From

  • pro·gen·i·to·ri·al [proh-jen-i-, tawr, -ee-, uh, l, -, tohr, -], adjective
  • pro·geni·tor·ship noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of progenitor1

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin prōgenitor the founder of a family. See pro- 1, genitor

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Word History and Origins

Origin of progenitor1

C14: from Latin: ancestor, from pro- 1+ genitor parent, from gignere to beget

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Example Sentences

There is no direct evidence for this, nor any indication that SARS-CoV-2 or a progenitor was being studied at the lab, let alone that someone who worked there was infected.

From Vox

It was also a recognition that its wild progenitor had been all but destroyed during the preceding century thanks to the invention of the steel plow.

Reading the researchers’ results, she says, “I got pretty excited, especially about the identification of the progenitor.”

Some of these new kids on the seltzer block are far different than their progenitors.

The cool, large, yellow progenitor of SN 2019yvr, on the other hand, appeared to be padded with lots of hydrogen.

That extra spin in the progenitor star might have been enough to give the neutron star more magnetic power, making it a magnetar.

So the name is appropriate if this machine is the progenitor of a robot race that will one day go to war.

FYMW is, in some ways, the progenitor of menswear on Tumblr.

Stylistically it is a progenitor of Invisible Man, which Ellison described as “realism that goes beyond and becomes surrealism.”

He is a progenitor of what could be called the degenerate school of American fiction.

He assumed to be a king; but the son of Ocrisia became one in reality, and instituted games in honour of his divine progenitor.

The pure-bred Peruvian horse is more elegantly formed than his Andalusian progenitor.

The natives call this little animal the Cui del Montes, and they believe it to be the progenitor of the tame Guinea pig.

Each day foretells the next, if one could read the signs; to-day is the progenitor of to-morrow.

Those who hold that Adam was the progenitor of the Jews only, and not of the whole human race.

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progenitiveprogenitor cell