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
Demosponges are soft and squishy filter feeders and their ancestors likely shared similar characteristics.
—
Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
The African roots of cumbia are expressed not only through its percussion instruments - the tambor alegre, the llamador and the tambora - but also through the voices of ancestors reflected in the sung dances of the region.
—Karla Gachet, NPR, 1 Oct. 2025
Where Lil Boosie and Kevin Gates are hometown heroes, two artists who are direct ancestors for YoungBoy’s style, YoungBoy is more notorious, fodder for the gossip shows and the minor podcasts that infiltrate their way onto your timeline.
—Jayson Buford, Rolling Stone, 30 Sep. 2025
In The Lion in the Living Room, Abigail Tucker reminds that our ancestors were certainly prey for lions and leopards and tigers.
—Rebecca Van Laer
september 30, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2025
Bertino's novel meets Adina, a baby aware of her own birth and knowledgable about a distant planet — the planet of her ancestors.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
This neurological response evolved to keep our ancestors alive in genuinely dangerous situations.
—Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Big Think, 29 Sep. 2025
For example, the modern population of Rapa Nui are mixed race, from both Polynesian and South American ancestors.
—Ted Powers, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2025
Perloo is a nod to the Gullah Geechee people, whose tongue carried more African than English words, and to their ancestors before them, who brought the blueprint for this meal from Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone during the transatlantic slave trade.
—Staff Author, Southern Living, 24 Sep. 2025
Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
The African roots of cumbia are expressed not only through its percussion instruments - the tambor alegre, the llamador and the tambora - but also through the voices of ancestors reflected in the sung dances of the region.
—Karla Gachet, NPR, 1 Oct. 2025
Where Lil Boosie and Kevin Gates are hometown heroes, two artists who are direct ancestors for YoungBoy’s style, YoungBoy is more notorious, fodder for the gossip shows and the minor podcasts that infiltrate their way onto your timeline.
—Jayson Buford, Rolling Stone, 30 Sep. 2025
In The Lion in the Living Room, Abigail Tucker reminds that our ancestors were certainly prey for lions and leopards and tigers.
—Rebecca Van Laer
september 30, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2025
Bertino's novel meets Adina, a baby aware of her own birth and knowledgable about a distant planet — the planet of her ancestors.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
This neurological response evolved to keep our ancestors alive in genuinely dangerous situations.
—Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Big Think, 29 Sep. 2025
For example, the modern population of Rapa Nui are mixed race, from both Polynesian and South American ancestors.
—Ted Powers, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2025
Perloo is a nod to the Gullah Geechee people, whose tongue carried more African than English words, and to their ancestors before them, who brought the blueprint for this meal from Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone during the transatlantic slave trade.
—Staff Author, Southern Living, 24 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestors
Noun
-
Now a young man, he's recently started a new chapter as an Army private first class and plans to follow in his father's and grandfathers’ military footsteps.—
Susan Young,
People.com,
1 Sep. 2025
-
The pride of Santa Elena's silletero families is palpable, with everyone from young children to grandmothers and grandfathers tracing the route of the culminating parade carrying their creations on their backs.—
Carley Rojas Ávila,
Forbes.com,
12 Aug. 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
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To end the war and reunite the remaining hostages with their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.—
Romina Ruiz-Goiriena,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
-
In one study conducted by sociologist Katherine Conger at the University of California, Davis, fully 65% of mothers and 70% of fathers confessed to having a favorite child.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
By the late 2010s, the precursors of ChatGPT, Gemini, and DALL-E were spluttering to life, making real the future that the Army had envisioned in World War II.—
Angus Fletcher,
Big Think,
29 Sep. 2025
-
And the precursors for that reality may already be in motion, Metzger noted.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
But there’s growing evidence that the current shutdown is somewhat different from its predecessors.—
Sarah Hutter,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
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None of his three immediate predecessors — Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen — lasted four full seasons.—
Matt Baker,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ancestors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestors. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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