ancestral

adjective an·ces·tral \ an-ˈses-trəl \

|Updated on: 1 Aug 2018

Definition of ancestral

: of, relating to, or inherited from an ancestor

ancestral estates

—

ancestrally

play \-trə-lē\ adverb

See ancestral defined for kids

Recent Examples of ancestral from the Web

All eyes have been on Chicago’s Croatian-Americans recently as their ancestral team gears up to compete in its first World Cup final Sunday.

— tessa weinberg, chicagotribune.com, "5 things to know about Chicago's Croatian community," 13 July 2018
Like the man himself, Mr. Trump’s ancestral presence is disruptive.

— katrin bennhold, New York Times, "Trump’s Ancestral Village Abounds With His Relatives. Few Admit a Link.," 2 July 2018
Meanwhile, during the last decade, the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington state have successfully fought for recognition of ancestral subsistence rights in British Columbia, reinforcing Indigenous perseverance despite national borders.

— time staff, Time, "The 25 Moments From American History That Matter Right Now," 28 June 2018
Melody Kittle, who sat by a friend in a shaded lawn chair and surveyed the festivities, said her connection to the ritual is ancestral.

— claire morgan and jordan cutler-tietjen, sacbee, "158th annual Pony Express ride kicks off in Old Sacramento," 20 June 2018
The strain had also acquired a gene that, in its ancestral form, makes the bacterium very inefficient at infecting mammals.

— kiona n. smith, Ars Technica, "4,000-year-old genomes point to origins of bubonic plague," 12 June 2018
Before those remarks were published, Trump flew by helicopter from the ambassador's residence to Winston Churchill's ancestral home, Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire.

— alexander smith /, NBC News, "Trump in Britain: President faces dozens of protests across U.K.," 13 July 2018
Crowds will also gather near Oxford outside Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of the Spencer-Churchill family, where Prime Minister Theresa May will host a black-tie dinner for Trump.

— ceylan yeginsu, BostonGlobe.com, "Trump says, ‘They like me a lot in the UK.’ 100,000 protesters may disagree," 12 July 2018
The militants swept into Sinjar, the ancestral homeland of the Yazidis near the Syrian border, in August 2014, after capturing the northern city of Mosul and declaring an Islamic caliphate in large areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

— Washington Post, "For a Yazidi woman abducted by IS, a tearful homecoming," 6 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ancestral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.