ANCESTORS Synonyms: 57 Similar and Opposite Words

ancestors

noun

plural of ancestor

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

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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

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of ancestors Eagle hopes to use the same technique to suss out the body temperatures of avian dinosaurs and ancient mammalian ancestors next. — Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2026 The group includes people whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. — ABC News, 15 Sep. 2026 The Maori tell a story about how a godwit showed their ancestors the way from their ancient homeland of Hawaiki to New Zealand, more than a thousand miles away. — Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026 The ancestors of the Bermuda powwow attendees were part of this buried and intertwined history. — Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026 That means that the majority of genetic material available for Mexican wolves comes from just five of their ancestors. — Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 11 Sep. 2026 According to the Reza website, the brand actually dates back to the mid-1700s when the emperor of Persia selected the ancestors of the Reza family as custodians of the royal treasury eventually to serve as royal jewelers of Persia. — David Moin, Footwear News, 9 Sep. 2026 Patrick Scribner has only limited memories of what, for generations, was home to his ancestors. — Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 6 Sep. 2026 Betty's grandmother Sarah had been the first of their ancestors to be born into freedom shortly after the Civil War. — Lesley Stahl, CBS News, 6 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestors

Noun

Born in Russell County, Virginia, Hubbard was largely raised by his grandfathers, both union coal miners with missing fingers, and still speaks with an Appalachian twang.

— Michelle Lhooq, New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2026
Sorrell, whose grandfathers both played in the majors, slugged 23 home runs and 20 doubles in 56 games while drawing 33 walks and striking out 61 times.

— Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2026

Definition of grandfathers

Noun

Margaret and Alice are the forerunners of Lucy and Ethel, and Shakespeare’s comedy, written expressly to entertain, gives us a sense of what an Elizabethan-era situation comedy might look like.

— Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
One of the forerunners today in Madeira and the Azores is António Maçanita from Azores Wine Company.

— Forbes.com, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026

Definition of forerunners

Noun

The relationship between Xi and Zhang went back decades, extending not just to their childhoods but all the way back to their fathers, who were comrades in arms in China’s ferocious civil war.

— Jonathan A. Czin, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2026
The victims were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and coworkers.

— Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of fathers

Noun

This event, which resulted in the death of enslaver Edward Gorsuch, heightened tensions between the North and South and was one of the many precursors to the American Civil War.

— Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 11 Sep. 2026
Two other groups received Lasker Awards, which are often precursors for Nobel Prizes.

— O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of precursors

Noun

Courtesy Rockaway Film Festival The space certainly feels scrappier than the black-and-white photos of its predecessors.

— Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Sep. 2026
The processor also uses square-lattice architecture wherein most qubits are connected to four nearest qubits, an improvement over its predecessors.

— Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of predecessors

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ancestor

ancestors

ancestral

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“Ancestors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestors. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of ancestors

noun

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