progenitor
[proh-jen-i-ter]
- a biologically related ancestor: a progenitor of the species.
- a person or thing that first indicates a direction, originates something, or serves as a model; predecessor; precursor: the progenitor of modern painting.
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Origin of progenitor
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for progenitor
Contemporary Examples
That extra spin in the progenitor star might have been enough to give the neutron star more magnetic power, making it a magnetar.
So the name is appropriate if this machine is the progenitor of a robot race that will one day go to war.
FYMW is, in some ways, the progenitor of menswear on Tumblr.
Stylistically it is a progenitor of Invisible Man, which Ellison described as “realism that goes beyond and becomes surrealism.”
He is a progenitor of what could be called the degenerate school of American fiction.
Historical Examples
The zany was progenitor to the specialist in humor, as we to-day have the unhappiness to know him.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
From every grave where a progenitor slept, he had heard a parent's voice.
The Caxtons, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
It was the progenitor and type of all later non-rigid dirigibles.
The War in the Air; Vol. 1Walter Raleigh.
No scholar has ever pretended that Canaan was the progenitor of the negro race.
The Slavery QuestionJohn Lawrence
His brother William was the progenitor of the Murrays of Abercairnie.
Life of Sir William Wallace of Elderslie, Vol. I (of II)John D. Carrick
progenitor
- a direct ancestor
- an originator or founder of a future development; precursor
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin: ancestor, from pro- 1 + genitor parent, from gignere to beget
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for progenitor
n.
late 14c., from Anglo-French progenitour (mid-14c.), Old French progeniteur (14c.) and directly from Latin progenitor "ancestor, the founder of a family," agent noun from progenitus, past participle of progignere (see progeny). Related: Progenitive; progenital; progenitrix (c.1600).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
progenitor
(prō-jĕn′ĭ-tər)- A direct ancestor.
- An originator of a line of descent.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.