Definition of DESCENDANT

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Descendant is the opposite of ancestor. Your grandparents' descendants are those who are descended from them—your parents, your brothers and sisters, and any children that any of you may have. It's been claimed that every person on earth is a descendant of Muhammad, and of every historical person before him—Julius Caesar, the Buddha, etc.—who started a line of descent. (Some of us still find this hard to believe.) And not all descendants are human; every modern thesaurus, for example, could be called the descendant of the one devised by Peter Mark Roget in 1852.

Examples of descendant in a Sentence

Adjective

the descendant branches of a weeping willow

Noun

One of the famous inventor's descendants is also an inventor. Many people in this area are descendants of German immigrants. Recent evidence supports the theory that birds are the modern descendants of dinosaurs. The Italian language is one of Latin's descendants.

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

The school hopes to draw in the descendant community in several ways. — Susan Svrluga, Washington Post, "College of William & Mary to explore the legacies of slavery and racism," 31 July 2019 Harvard’s Peabody Museum holds the images and has gone to great lengths to develop practices that engage descendant communities and others who may have an interest in its some of its sensitive collections. — Deirdre Fernandes, BostonGlobe.com, "Agassiz descendants put pressure on Harvard to give up slave photos," 19 June 2019 American Jewry is also dominated by a European-descendant establishment, despite a significant and growing population of Jews of color who can have real problems feeling accepted in the community. — Zack Beauchamp, Vox, "Julia Salazar, the socialist politician accused of lying about her past, explained," 7 Sep. 2018 Today, local representatives from descendant communities visit the site twice a year and help guide the research. — Jon Hurdle, New York Times, "Ruined ‘Apartments’ May Hold Clues to Native American History," 4 Sep. 2017 The group was made up of friends of Ariana Rockefeller, the descendant grand-niece of the property's founder. — Avril Graham, Harper's BAZAAR, "Just Back From...A Long Weekend in Puerto Rico," 8 May 2017 A descendant sapling from a tree planted by children who were killed during the Holocaust was planted at Niles West High School Thursday, April 27, in honor of Arbor Day. — Mike Isaacs, chicagotribune.com, "Arbor Day: Sapling from tree grown during Holocaust planted at Niles West," 28 Apr. 2017 Protesters also poured into the streets of several cities in Chocó, the blackest department (comparable to a U.S. state), with an 80 percent African-descendant population. — Lori S. Robinson, The Root, "Fighting for Black Lives in Colombia: At War’s End, the Search for a Seat at the Table," 3 July 2017

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The descendants of families who refused in 1875 to move to reservation land, Jamul Indians did not win federal recognition as an official band of Kumeyaay Indians until 1975. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "From the Archives: Jamul Indian Village grew at cemetery site," 6 Aug. 2019 Another descendant of Robert Owen, Abigail Owen, has taken on the role of cultural ambassador and is recruiting artists, performers, and young people by establishing residencies and hosting festivals. — Diana Budds, Curbed, "This small Indiana town is a hotbed of utopianism," 5 Aug. 2019 The descendants are among 18 people staying on the grounds Saturday night. — Washington Post, "Slave descendants to spend night in cabins at NC plantation," 3 Aug. 2019 In fact, after five generations, the descendants of the original mice still carried their original microbiomes. — Nicolas Rivero, Quartz, "Dirtier lab mice could make drug trials more reliable," 1 Aug. 2019 His mother, Aliph, a descendant of New York’s prominent Van Cortland family, fostered an appreciation of poetry and music, and his father Floyd won one of the first Oscars for cinematography. — Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE.com, "The Most Interesting Man in Rock: How David Crosby Survived Everything — and Lived to Sing About It," 24 July 2019 Bennet’s father, a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, earned a Harvard Ph.D. (medieval Russian history), and was an aide to a U.S. ambassador to India, and later worked for Democrats Hubert Humphrey, Ed Muskie and Tom Eagleton. — George F. Will, The Denver Post, "Will: To defeat Trump, Democrats should nominate Bennet," 14 July 2019 Bennet’s father, a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, earned a Harvard Ph.D. (medieval Russian history), and was an aide to a U.S. ambassador to India, and later worked for Democrats Hubert Humphrey, Ed Muskie and Tom Eagleton. — George Will, Twin Cities, "George Will: To defeat Trump, Democrats should nominate Bennet," 14 July 2019 Bennet’s father, a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, earned a Harvard Ph.D. (medieval Russian history), and was an aide to a U.S. ambassador to India, and later worked for Democrats Hubert Humphrey, Ed Muskie, and Tom Eagleton. — George Will, National Review, "To Defeat Trump, Democrats Should Nominate Michael Bennet," 14 July 2019

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