ancestral

[ an-ses-truh l ]

/ ænˈsɛs trəl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ancestral ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

pertaining to ancestors; descending or claimed from ancestors: an ancestral home.

serving as a forerunner, prototype, or inspiration.

Nearby words

anc., ancaeus, ancaster, ancestor, ancestor worship, ancestral, ancestress, ancestry, anch'ing, anchises, ancho

Origin of ancestral

1425–75; late Middle English aunce(s)trel < Middle French, equivalent to ancestre ancestor + -el -al¹

Related forms

an·ces·tral·ly, adverbnon·an·ces·tral, adjectivenon·an·ces·tral·ly, adverbpseu·do·an·ces·tral, adjective

pseu·do·an·ces·tral·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ancestral

The Oklahoma Kiowa have joined this warpath; the Yellowstone is their ancestral homeland.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That is to say, the ancestral genes, the ancestral strain of inheritance, appears again in these little children.
Joseph Campbell on the Roots of Halloween|Joseph Campbell|October 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There is an ancestral homestead, but it has a meth lab in the barn.
Book Bag: Gritty Stories From the Real Montana|Carrie La Seur|October 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Nevilles' music, inspired by the ancestral rhythms of their city, is mostly pop, funk, and soul.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the Bayou|John Ed Bradley|April 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

So with ethnicity, for example, it means they were targeted because of an ancestral, cultural, social, or national affiliation.
Hate Crime Victimization Statistics Show Rise in Anti-Hispanic Crime|Abby Haglage|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The laws of the two republics interfere very little with his life, which is regulated by ancestral custom.
South America Observations and Impressions|James Bryce
By the middle of the Tertiary this ancestral horse has risen in height until he is taller and heavier than a setter dog.
The Meaning of Evolution|Samuel Christian Schmucker
This view does not restrict you to ancestral hay fever, but extends it to gout or to any equivalent of gout.
The Treatment of Hay Fever|George Frederick Laidlaw
One grieves to think that the old Hall of the Townshends on the other side of Fakenham has been shorn of its ancestral portraits.
Nooks and Corners of Old England|Allan Fea
It stands in my memory rather like a college or a hospital, than as the ancestral residence of a great English noble.
Passages From the English Notebooks, Volume 1|Nathaniel Hawthorne

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 Forms

ancestrally, 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