as in grandmother
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Recent Examples of ancestress
The intersection of these two facts does convince me that William's genealogical ancestress, Eliza Kewark, did have South Asian ancestry (not totally surprising even in notionally ethnically distinct groups like Armenians or Parsis who have been long resident in India).
—
Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2013
Instead of being a reticulated mesh the genealogy of mtDNA is a clean and inverted elegant tree leading back to a common ancestress.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 17 Nov. 2010
Meanwhile, Alice, Dana’s ancestress, never becomes much more than a moral quandary: a stubborn victim who is unable to adapt.
—Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2021
Yang Asha is the mythical ancestress of the Miao people, an ethnic minority in China closely related to the Hmong of Southeast Asia.
—Keith Bradsher, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2020
His own mother, aged ninety, who remembered her aunt, had been able to share stories of their ancestress with the grandchildren who’d had no idea, before now, what their background might be.
—Susan Choi, Harper's magazine, 6 Jan. 2020
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan’s emperors.
—Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2019
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan's emperors.
—NBC News, 22 Oct. 2019
Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2013
Instead of being a reticulated mesh the genealogy of mtDNA is a clean and inverted elegant tree leading back to a common ancestress.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 17 Nov. 2010
Meanwhile, Alice, Dana’s ancestress, never becomes much more than a moral quandary: a stubborn victim who is unable to adapt.
—Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2021
Yang Asha is the mythical ancestress of the Miao people, an ethnic minority in China closely related to the Hmong of Southeast Asia.
—Keith Bradsher, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2020
His own mother, aged ninety, who remembered her aunt, had been able to share stories of their ancestress with the grandchildren who’d had no idea, before now, what their background might be.
—Susan Choi, Harper's magazine, 6 Jan. 2020
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan’s emperors.
—Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2019
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan's emperors.
—NBC News, 22 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestress
Noun
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His grandmother was said to have been a white woman from England who had taken up with a Black man in North Carolina just after slavery ended.—
Jelani Cobb,
New Yorker,
14 June 2025
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And in 2021, when Diana's grandmother died, Diana moved in.—
Gabrielle Emanuel,
NPR,
13 June 2025
Noun
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Now is the time to stand up for every American’s First Amendment right to tell their story, to dissent from the government’s world view, to celebrate the resilience and fortitude of ancestors who fought for their rights and their culture in this country.—
John Leguizamo,
New York Daily News,
6 June 2025
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Names carry the legacy of our ancestors, the history of our culture, and the desires of our parents.—
Annabelle Canela,
Parents,
5 June 2025
Noun
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His first experiences of racing came from watching the Tour de France with his grandfather.—
Jacob Whitehead,
New York Times,
18 June 2025
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Built in 1939 by Gamboa’s grandfather, the mansion marries Art Deco style with bahay kubo architecture, a traditional Filipino house on stilts.—
Jeff Chu,
Travel + Leisure,
16 June 2025
Noun
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Lipman and Cowen confirmed that no one else was even considered for the role of mouthy matriarch Debbie Novotny.—
Chris Gardner,
HollywoodReporter,
13 June 2025
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Dow died in 2022, and Cleaver family matriarch Barbara Billingsley died in 2010.—
Grace Harrington,
People.com,
12 June 2025
Noun
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Its progenitor started off in the timber trade around the turn of the 20th century, according to a company profile.—
Jaime Moore-Carrillo,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
12 May 2025
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New York is usually considered the antithesis of sprawl and Los Angeles the progenitor of it.—
Conor Dougherty,
New York Times,
10 Apr. 2025
Noun
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As his forebears did, Jobbagy arrives at work at four in the morning.—
Ian Frazier,
New Yorker,
9 June 2025
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In this thoughtful, cautionary tale, the longtime New Yorker magazine staff writer reports on how three generations of his forebears, beginning with his great-grandfather, revolutionized vegetable farming and the frozen food business in southwestern New Jersey.—
Heller McAlpin,
Christian Science Monitor,
3 June 2025
Noun
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Through our hair and its many rituals, remain the herbalism of our foremothers in the new world, passing down their ingenuity of homemade balms, creams, and oils for hair growth.—
Eshe Ukweli,
refinery29.com,
7 June 2023
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In fact, precursors to modern bleaching processes didn’t come on the scene until the turn of the 20th century, leaving our foremothers and forefathers plenty of time to get creative with their blonde pursuits.—
AJ Willingham,
CNN,
28 May 2023
Noun
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Transportation secretaries normally have little to do with tariff policy, but Duffy has presented himself as one of the intellectual forefathers of Trump’s current trade agenda.—
Robert Faturechi,
ProPublica,
19 May 2025
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Instead, Zinke told Outside that his vision for public land management comes from the forefathers of the U.S. National Parks.—
Jayme Moye,
Outside Online,
19 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ancestress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestress. Accessed 23 Jun. 2025.
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