1
as in grandfather
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent
Bridie's Irish ancestors immigrated to the United States in the 19th century during the Great Potato Famine
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in forerunner
something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed
pinball machines—the ancestors of today's video games—go back to the 19th century
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ancestor
Its private lake, Leask Lake, is believed to have an underwater passage through which whales traveled, and the property is in view of Estero Peak, where Homalco ancestors are said to have survived a great flood by tying canoes to its summit.
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Katie Nanton, Travel + Leisure, 30 Dec. 2025
For thousands of years, our ancestors progressed from scavenging flames around wildfires to tending them and, eventually, sparking them deliberately.
—Jay Kakade
december 30, New Atlas, 30 Dec. 2025
And Swarovski was a sustainability pioneer, taking cues from the eco-friendly manufacturing processes used by her ancestor Daniel Swarovski 126 years ago and promoting the use of deadstock crystals in fashion and jewelry collections.
—Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 29 Dec. 2025
Those 86 million-year-old bones appear to be connected to a dinosaur closely linked to the direct ancestor of all tyrannosaurs, if not the direct ancestral species itself, according to research published in the journal Nature.
—Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 28 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ancestor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestor
Noun
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The gift is fitting, not just because Farley runs Ford, but his maternal grandfather, Emmet Tracy, was an early Ford employee who built Model T's.—
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In 1993, Tom and his wife, Cathy, welcomed a son, making Knotts a grandfather for the first time.—
Noun
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Perfected by forerunners such as Fiona Apple and Alanis Morissette, this fall has already seen two music stars gift us with lay-it-all-out-there lyrics.—
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The Park cinema launched under the ownership of Cineplex Odeon Cinemas, a forerunner of Cineplex and today an operator of multiplexes and out of home destinations.—
Noun
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Boley's father, Jameson Kyle Boley, 40, of Jasper, Alabama, has been charged with felony chemical endangerment of a child and unlawful manufacture of a destructive device, according to Walker County District Court records obtained by Fox News Digital.—
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And the father and son eventually fell out.—
Noun
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Nya Lödöse was an important precursor to modern-day Gothenburg, located in the city’s eastern part between 1473 and 1624.—
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Bogle introduced the first index fund for everyday investors, a precursor to the Vanguard 500.—
Noun
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But under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, the country’s energy sector is in free-fall.—
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Her predecessor, who is no relation, recruited her to run for council a decade ago.—
Noun
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Therefore, seeing multiple green aircraft together strongly suggests serial (repeat) production, not one-off prototypes.—
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As Milligan points out in a prototype demo, the tracks feature drainage holes on the outside to keep the water moving outward instead of pooling and potentially leaking inside.—
Cite this Entry
“Ancestor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestor. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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