Synonyms for ancestor
ˈæn sɛs tər; esp. Brit. -sə stəran·ces·tor

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:2.8 / 6 votes

1. ancestor, ascendant, ascendent, antecedent, rootnoun

   someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)

   Synonyms:
   theme, rootage, radical, ascendant, antecedent, etymon, base, beginning, solution, origin, stem, root, source, tooth root, ascendent, forerunner, root word

   Antonyms:
   descendent, descendant

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ancestornoun

   Synonyms:
   forefather, progenitor, father

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:2.4 / 9 votes

1. ancestornoun

   Synonyms:
   forefather, progenitor, primogenitor, forbear

   Associated words:
   atavic, atavism, lineal, collateral, hereditary, heredity, genealogy, genealogist

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "ancestor":

   progenitor, ascendant, forerunner, predecessor, ancestral, old-timer, ascendancy, ancestry

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How to use ancestor in a sentence?

1. Uppsala University:

   Humans have always been interested in trying to find an answer to the question, 'Where do we come from?' Well, now we know from what type of microbial ancestor we descend, essentially, Lokiarchaeota represent a missing piece of the puzzle of the evolution from simple cells - bacteria and archaea, prokaryotes - to complex cells - eukaryotes, which includes us humans.

2. Thomas Edelmann:

   I want him to understand what history is, and what history means. Although he doesn't have anything to do with this story, it's our ancestor who has impacted the lives of a whole family who had a life in this country, i want him to learn and understand that whatever decisions he makes has an impact on someone else's life.

3. Conrad Labandeira:

   That, in turn, suggests that the two groups of insects share a genetic program for eyespot production, the last common ancestor of these insects lived about 320 million years ago, deep in the Paleozoic. So we think this must be a developmental mechanism that goes all the way back to the origins of winged insects.

4. Laurence J. Peter:

   Every man serves a useful purpose A miser, for example, makes a wonderful ancestor.

5. Eugenia Gold:

   But nothing shows us what pterosaurs looked like before they adapted to fly, all the evidence shows us the pterosaurs are cousins of dinosaurs and that both share a common ancestor.