ancestor
[ an-ses-ter or, esp. British, -suh-ster ]
/ ˈæn sɛs tər or, esp. British, -sə stər /
noun
a person from whom one is descended; forebear; progenitor.
Biology. the actual or hypothetical form or stock from which an organism has developed or descended.
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.
a person who serves as an influence or model for another; one from whom mental, artistic, spiritual, etc., descent is claimed: a philosophical ancestor.
Law. a person from whom an heir derives an inheritance.
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
anbury, anc, anc., ancaeus, ancaster, ancestor, ancestor worship, ancestral, ancestress, ancestry, anch'ing
Origin of ancestor
1250–1300; Middle English ancestre < Old French (with t developed between s and r) < Latin antecessor antecessor
Can be confused
ancestor descendantDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for ancestor
British Dictionary definitions for ancestor
ancestor
/ (ˈænsɛstə) /
noun
(often plural) a person from whom another is directly descended, esp someone more distant than a grandparent; forefather
an early type of animal or plant from which a later, usually dissimilar, type has evolved
a person or thing regarded as a forerunner of a later person or thingthe ancestor of the modern camera
Derived Forms
ancestress, fem nWord Origin for ancestor
C13: from Old French ancestre, from Late Latin antecēssor one who goes before, from Latin antecēdere; see antecede
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012