ancestress
Americannoun
Gender
What's the difference between ancestress and ancestor? See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of ancestress
First recorded in 1570–80; ancest(o)r + -ess
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.
Descendant of a Revolutionary War heroine who once detained General Howe for four days�whether from passion or patriotism�Minerva gets involved with a foundation that wants to honor her ancestress by "restoring" the town.
From Time Magazine Archive
Alone, save for two attendants, he appeared, once before midnight and once after, at the shrine of his ancestress the Sun Goddess and offered her a sacrifice of holy rice.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had taken to wife the Princess Charlotte of Oldenburg, petite and ravishing as her famed ancestress Queen Louise of Prussia.*
From Time Magazine Archive
A jewel box of a biography of the incomparable Sarah Churchill, wife to the hero of Blenheim, ancestress of Sir Winston.
From Time Magazine Archive
I had an ancestress with a long gray tail and eyes as beady as mine, and her name was Katinka Van Tassel.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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.
