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
Our ancestors’ genomes were built through successive waves of gene transfers.
—
ArsTechnica, 11 June 2026
Drawing on generations of Chinatown family lore and silences, See turns China City’s vanished streets and her ancestors’ immigrant gambles into a historical fiction layered with stories of survival and belonging.
—Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
This is a team that considers playing defense a personal insult to their ancestors.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 11 June 2026
Mesa Verde continues to hold great cultural significance for the 27 pueblos and tribes whose ancestors once called the canyons, farms, cliffside and mesa dwellings home or who have other ties to the area.
—Alia Beard Rau, USA Today, 10 June 2026
During the Early Devonian Period, life on land was still relatively new, and many of the ancestors of modern vertebrates had yet to emerge from the water.
—Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
It’s written in the delicate, slow-growing plants that protect the land; it’s written in the chants that invoke ancestors.
—Julie Orringer, Travel + Leisure, 9 June 2026
Other ancestors had fled aboard the Mayflower from the persecution of Puritans in England, aboard a steamship from pogroms in Ukraine, aboard a schooner from Spanish repression in Cuba.
—Yoni Appelbaum, The Atlantic, 8 June 2026
The 2008 study proposed that grazing is a normal behavior, possibly an instinct carried over from wild canid ancestors.
—Niranjana Rajalakshmi, Popular Science, 4 June 2026
ArsTechnica, 11 June 2026
Drawing on generations of Chinatown family lore and silences, See turns China City’s vanished streets and her ancestors’ immigrant gambles into a historical fiction layered with stories of survival and belonging.
—Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
This is a team that considers playing defense a personal insult to their ancestors.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 11 June 2026
Mesa Verde continues to hold great cultural significance for the 27 pueblos and tribes whose ancestors once called the canyons, farms, cliffside and mesa dwellings home or who have other ties to the area.
—Alia Beard Rau, USA Today, 10 June 2026
During the Early Devonian Period, life on land was still relatively new, and many of the ancestors of modern vertebrates had yet to emerge from the water.
—Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
It’s written in the delicate, slow-growing plants that protect the land; it’s written in the chants that invoke ancestors.
—Julie Orringer, Travel + Leisure, 9 June 2026
Other ancestors had fled aboard the Mayflower from the persecution of Puritans in England, aboard a steamship from pogroms in Ukraine, aboard a schooner from Spanish repression in Cuba.
—Yoni Appelbaum, The Atlantic, 8 June 2026
The 2008 study proposed that grazing is a normal behavior, possibly an instinct carried over from wild canid ancestors.
—Niranjana Rajalakshmi, Popular Science, 4 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestors
Noun
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Opponents hope to negotiate a compromise that grandfathers in existing applicants.—
Joe Rubin,
Sacbee.com,
31 May 2026
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Homer is named after both of his grandfathers—Homer Gere and James Lowell—while his third name comes from Gere’s Buddhist background.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
27 May 2026
Noun
-
Even the Hammurabi Code, a set of laws created by the sixth Babylonian king in approximately 1760 bce, established forerunners of today’s interest rate and minimum wage laws.—
Chris Roush,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
22 Apr. 2026
-
The Norwegian ended his season before the Olympics to further recover from a shoulder injury, but attended the finals as one of the forerunners, who test a course shortly before a race starts.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Blair Miller and Johnathon Bobbitt-Miller, the adoptive fathers of Harmony's brother Jamison, shared a statement following the Supreme Court's decision.—
Matt Schooley,
CBS News,
11 June 2026
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Children may not resemble either parent, leading to a parent being mistaken for a nanny (with mothers) or a mentor (with fathers) when in public.—
Geoffrey Greif,
Baltimore Sun,
11 June 2026
Noun
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Many scientists believe that the vocal systems of great apes were too limited to be considered precursors of human language, but the work of Crockford, Berthet and their colleagues suggests otherwise.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
3 June 2026
-
These foods don’t have sky-high amounts of melatonin, and some contain more precursors to melatonin than the hormone itself, Tahir says.—
Sarah Klein,
Time,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
Naval Combat Demolition Units and others are the predecessors of the Navy SEALs, possibly best known for the mission in 2011 that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.—
USA TODAY Network,
USA Today,
10 June 2026
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During their mission, the crew will spend around two weeks inside their Orion capsule—about four days more than their predecessors did in April’s Artemis II mission, a nearly 10-day voyage that took four other astronauts looping around the moon’s farside.—
Claire Cameron,
Scientific American,
9 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ancestors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestors. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.
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