ancestor

American  

[an-ses-ter, -suh-ster] / ˈæn sɛs tər, -sə stər /

noun

ancestors plural

1. a person from whom one is descended; forebear; progenitor.

2. Biology. the actual or hypothetical form or stock from which an organism has developed or descended.

3. an object, idea, style, or occurrence serving as a prototype, forerunner, or inspiration to a later one.

   The balloon is an ancestor of the modern dirigible.

4. a person who serves as an influence or model for another; one from whom mental, artistic, spiritual, etc., descent is claimed.

   a philosophical ancestor.

5. Law. a person from whom an heir derives an inheritance.

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ancestor British  

/ ˈænsɛstə /

noun

1. (often plural) a person from whom another is directly descended, esp someone more distant than a grandparent; forefather

2. an early type of animal or plant from which a later, usually dissimilar, type has evolved

3. a person or thing regarded as a forerunner of a later person or thing

   the ancestor of the modern camera

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ancestress
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ancestors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ancestor

1250–1300; Middle English ancestre < Old French (with t developed between s and r ) < Latin antecessor antecessor

Explanation

An ancestor came before. Your grandmother's grandmother and any relative before her is one of your ancestors. Ante-, a common Latin prefix, means "before." Cedere is Latin for "to go." So, an ancestor is someone who has gone before us. Evolutionary biologists have advanced the theory that all life on earth descends from a common ancestor. Ancestor can also mean "prototype" or "forerunner." The abacus is a distant ancestor of today's supercomputers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ancestor ancestors

The team also carried out biogeographic analyses to investigate where the common ancestor of all living apes most likely lived.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026

The researchers say the use of touch to build trust and cooperation may date back at least seven million years, before humans, chimpanzees and bonobos split from a common ancestor.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Eight of out 10 of Sumba's population of 685,000 people are Christian, but its older "marapu" belief system, that blends animism and ancestor worship, has deep roots.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

However, the newly discovered ancestor may have been very different.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026

Family after family arrives, each claiming a decrepit ancestor amid high-decibel greetings.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

His ancestors on both sides were mill workers.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, so Renaissance thinking went, were the cultural ancestors of the “West,” an imagined cultural space then beginning to take shape.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

"It's not a weight on our shoulders. It's only the symbol of a tradition inherited from our ancestors."

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

His Bedouin ancestors earned great wealth pearl diving—until foreign farmed pearls tanked the market and left the local economy in shambles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

“In Africa, our ancestors believed that Seers were blessed,” he says.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

Related Words

• forebear
• forefather
• founder