1
as in grandfathers
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in forerunners
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ancestors
More rails flew back — their distant ancestors, still strong in Madagascar, made the same flight again.
—
Big Think, 29 Oct. 2025
In the early 2020s, ancestors of the founder worked to bring the brand back to life, refocusing on the original cast-iron products that cooks loved.
—Editors Of Bon Appétit, Bon Appetit Magazine, 29 Oct. 2025
David Lawrence Jr, who is also the former publisher of the Miami Herald, spoke of how his own mother’s ancestors arrived in 1620 and how his father’s family had left Ireland during the potato famine during the 19th century.
—Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
No one today is a slave or a slave-owner, but California would treat its diverse residents as such based on the identity of their ancestors.
—Andrew Quinio, Oc Register, 29 Oct. 2025
The ancestors were taken from the Riverside Cemetery site near the Menominee River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula between 1961 and 1963 during a joint excavation led by anthropologists Robert Retzenthaler for the Milwaukee Public Museum and Robert Hrushka for the Oshkosh Public Museum.
—Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Cancer Family is important to you, so use Halloween as a gateway to connect with your ancestors in another realm.
—Lisa Stardust, Refinery29, 27 Oct. 2025
Early West African cultures thought children were the reincarnated spirits of their ancestors.
—K. Ward Cummings, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
Ludwig’s distant paternal ancestors were in fact German Jewish merchants, not warlike princes.
—Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
Big Think, 29 Oct. 2025
In the early 2020s, ancestors of the founder worked to bring the brand back to life, refocusing on the original cast-iron products that cooks loved.
—Editors Of Bon Appétit, Bon Appetit Magazine, 29 Oct. 2025
David Lawrence Jr, who is also the former publisher of the Miami Herald, spoke of how his own mother’s ancestors arrived in 1620 and how his father’s family had left Ireland during the potato famine during the 19th century.
—Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
No one today is a slave or a slave-owner, but California would treat its diverse residents as such based on the identity of their ancestors.
—Andrew Quinio, Oc Register, 29 Oct. 2025
The ancestors were taken from the Riverside Cemetery site near the Menominee River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula between 1961 and 1963 during a joint excavation led by anthropologists Robert Retzenthaler for the Milwaukee Public Museum and Robert Hrushka for the Oshkosh Public Museum.
—Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Cancer Family is important to you, so use Halloween as a gateway to connect with your ancestors in another realm.
—Lisa Stardust, Refinery29, 27 Oct. 2025
Early West African cultures thought children were the reincarnated spirits of their ancestors.
—K. Ward Cummings, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
Ludwig’s distant paternal ancestors were in fact German Jewish merchants, not warlike princes.
—Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestors
Noun
-
Smith and Christian’s respective grandfathers were their catalysts into vintage fashion.—
Angela Velasquez,
Sourcing Journal,
24 Oct. 2025
-
Once the territory of grandfathers and sitcom nerds, sweater vests have had a resurgence over the last decade.—
Andrea Zendejas,
Vogue,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Compared to their forerunners in the tsarist era, with their party congresses held abroad, their executive committees, and their active recruitment in imperial Russia’s universities, Soviet dissidents remained a comparatively small and informal conglomeration of activists.—
Benjamin Nathans
September 24,
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The new season, which marks the first under iHeartMedia and Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network, will go beyond the original premise of interviewing famous fathers.—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
24 Oct. 2025
-
What YouTube and these social platforms have done is allow people to create entire media groups speaking to very particular communities—to South Asian women or, say, gay fathers over forty.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Li said Sunday that the parties had brokered a preliminary framework for a trade truce including new provisions regarding China’s export controls and safeguards against the smuggling of fentanyl and its chemical precursors.—
Kate Nishimura,
Sourcing Journal,
27 Oct. 2025
-
The team’s innovation focuses on Surface Immobilized Electrides, a new type of material made by attaching solvated electron precursors to stable surfaces like diamond and silicon carbide.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
One of his predecessors, Max Allegri, used to say there are categories of coaches.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Sacramento Kings general manager Scott Perry and coach Doug Christie are trying to pick up the pieces after a season of chaos caused their predecessors to lose their jobs, but so far fate and misfortune seem to be conspiring against them.—
Jason Anderson,
Sacbee.com,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ancestors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestors. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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