lineage
1 Americannoun
noun
-
direct descent from an ancestor, esp a line of descendants from one ancestor
-
a less common word for derivation
noun
Etymology
Origin of lineage
1275–1325; line(al) + -age; replacing Middle English linage < Anglo-French; Old French lignage < Vulgar Latin *līneāticum. See line 1, -age
Explanation
The word lineage is used to describe everyone who descends from a particular ancestor. Mozart had six children, but none of them had children of their own, so the composer’s lineage ended after one generation. If you put an adjective like artistic or spiritual before lineage, it becomes clear you're talking about people who are related by ideas or attitude, not by blood. There are many composers, even today, who trace their musical lineage to Mozart, even though his actual lineage ended in the 19th century.
Vocabulary lists containing lineage
It's All in the Family
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "J," "K," and "L"
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Born a Crime
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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.
"This international collaboration to support the last remaining individual could prevent the extinction of a species that represents a unique lineage with its own natural history," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
“And in honor of our shared Targaryen lineage, Emilia is going to address you in High Valyrian — our mother tongue — and I will translate.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
A victory would place the Benns alongside the likes of Floyd and Tracy Harris Patterson, Julio Cesar Chavez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Leon and Cory Spinks in the lineage of father-and-son world champions.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
These birds also lived in and around water, yet their lineage still went extinct.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
I was fairly certain that, if you traced the lineage of all the desserts in the world, each and every one originated in Yazd.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
