as in lineages
the line of ancestors from whom a person is descended
a Cambodian immigrant who can trace her Khmer ancestry as far back as the 16th century
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Recent Examples of ancestries
But many Chicanos trace their lineage to indigenous peoples who survived Spanish colonization, often carrying mixed indigenous, Spanish, and other ancestries, a testament to survival and cultural fusion.
—
David Alvarado, Time, 15 Dec. 2025
This lack of representation is problematic for people of different ancestries because genetic risk factors differ across populations.
—Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2025
The box covers the most popular classes and ancestries such as humans, elves, dwarves and halflings.
—Rob Wieland, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
David Alvarado, Time, 15 Dec. 2025
This lack of representation is problematic for people of different ancestries because genetic risk factors differ across populations.
—Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2025
The box covers the most popular classes and ancestries such as humans, elves, dwarves and halflings.
—Rob Wieland, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestries
Noun
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Ninety million years after our lineages split, humans are beginning to listen to whales in a new way.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
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Peter Godfrey-Smith, professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Sydney, explores the evolutionary roots of consciousness by tracing how felt experience may have emerged across different animal lineages.—
David L. Coddon,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Of the group, Lloyd and Bush are probably the top names, with both having notable draft pedigrees and production during their careers.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
5 Feb. 2026
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Even a non-power near-champ like 2008 Utah wouldn’t fit, since the 2000s Mountain West had several programs with better pedigrees than pre-Cignetti Indiana.—
Jason Kirk,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The seal texts often introduced the owners with their names, genealogies, gender, professions and hometowns.—
Serdar Yalçin,
The Conversation,
3 Nov. 2025
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Transcripts, grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, glyph studies, botanical studies, commentaries, articles, editions of codices, correspondence, maps, charts, drawings, photographs, Maya Society materials, genealogies of Maya families, and Mayan glyphs on moveable type.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Valentine's Day pagan connections One of the most common explanations is that Valentine's Day has its origins in the ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia.—
Marina Johnson,
IndyStar,
5 Feb. 2026
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Each lambda also contains a strange quark, or a strange antiquark in the case of an antilambda, which allows physicists to trace its origins.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ancestries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestries. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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