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. 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.

2. Stephanie Melillo:

   We used to think that A. anamensis gradually turned into A. afarensis over time, we still think that these two species had an ancestor-descendent relationship, but this new discovery suggests that the two species were actually living together in the Afar for quite some time. It changes our understanding of the evolutionary process and brings up new questions -- were these animals competing for food or space ?

3. Rhiannon Giddens:

   When I first heard the minstrel banjo - I played a gourd first - I almost lost my mind. I was like, Oh, my god. And then I went to Africa, to the Gambia, and studied the akonting, which is an ancestor of the banjo, and just that connection to me was just immense.

4. Elaine Ostrander:

   Because they are isolated, they retain whatever genetics was in their ancestor and great ancestors, the Patagonian sheepdog comes the closest to anything anyone has ever seen and that's what makes them so fascinating.

5. Laurence J. Peter:

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