ancestor
Americannoun
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a person from whom one is descended; forebear; progenitor.
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Biology. the actual or hypothetical form or stock from which an organism has developed or descended.
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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.
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a person who serves as an influence or model for another; one from whom mental, artistic, spiritual, etc., descent is claimed.
a philosophical ancestor.
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Law. a person from whom an heir derives an inheritance.
noun
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(often plural) a person from whom another is directly descended, esp someone more distant than a grandparent; forefather
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an early type of animal or plant from which a later, usually dissimilar, type has evolved
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a person or thing regarded as a forerunner of a later person or thing
the ancestor of the modern camera
Other Word Forms
- ancestress noun
Etymology
Origin of ancestor
1250–1300; Middle English ancestre < Old French (with t developed between s and r ) < Latin antecessor antecessor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The discovery pushes back the time that the first dogs evolved from their wolf ancestors by around 5,000 years.
From BBC
Together, these findings suggest that birds and other animals, including human ancestors, may have evolved a tolerance for and sometimes even a preference for alcohol.
From Science Daily
"I'd create a land where I could hang out with the spirits of all my ancestors past, present and future," Garfield says.
From BBC
The people who made the Sulawesi art were likely closely related to the ancestors of Indigenous Australians.
From Science Daily
“Project Hail Mary” salutes its ancestors without ripping them off—alluding to “Arrival,” “E.T.” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”—but it is also, excitingly, a fresh story with bold aspirations.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
