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definitions

ancestral

[ an-ses-truh l ]
/ ænˈsɛs trəl /
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adjective

pertaining to ancestors; descending or claimed from ancestors: an ancestral home.
serving as a forerunner, prototype, or inspiration.

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RELATED WORDS

familial, tribal, affiliated, congenital, inborn, inbred, inherited, innate, maternal, old, past, paternal, consanguine, consanguineous, genealogical, lineal, totemic

Nearby words

  1. anc.,
  2. ancaeus,
  3. ancaster,
  4. ancestor,
  5. ancestor worship,
  6. ancestress,
  7. ancestry,
  8. anch'ing,
  9. anchises,
  10. ancho

Origin of ancestral

1425–75; late Middle English aunce(s)trel < Middle French, equivalent to ancestre ancestor + -el -al1
Related forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ancestral

British Dictionary definitions for ancestral

ancestral

/ (ænˈsɛstrəl) /

adjective

of, inherited from, or derived from ancestorshis ancestral home

noun

logic a relation that holds between x and y if there is a chain of instances of a given relation leading from x to y. Thus the ancestral of parent of is ancestor of, since x is the ancestor of y if and only if x is a parent of…a parent of…a parent of y
Derived Formsancestrally, adverb
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

Word Origin and History for ancestral

ancestral

adj.

1520s, from Old French ancestrel (Anglo-French auncestrel), from ancestre (see ancestor). Related: Ancestrally.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper