as in lineage
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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ancestry
According to the San Diego Zoo, most pygmy hippos living in American zoos have ancestry that ties back to Billy, a pygmy given to President Calvin Coolidge in 1927 from American tire mogul Harvey Firestone, who owned a rubber plantation in Liberia.
—
Natalie Davies, Freep.com, 5 Sep. 2025
The 17-year-old shares Yurok and Māori ancestry and grew up in Requa, one of the continent’s longest continuously inhabited communities.
—Debra Utacia Krol, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2025
That has led to debate over whether the child belonged to Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, or even a hybrid with Denisovan ancestry.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2025
She was born and raised in Hawaii and is of Vietnamese descent on her mother’s side, as well as having Polish and Irish ancestry on her father’s side, who is American.
—Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ancestry
Natalie Davies, Freep.com, 5 Sep. 2025
The 17-year-old shares Yurok and Māori ancestry and grew up in Requa, one of the continent’s longest continuously inhabited communities.
—Debra Utacia Krol, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2025
That has led to debate over whether the child belonged to Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, or even a hybrid with Denisovan ancestry.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2025
She was born and raised in Hawaii and is of Vietnamese descent on her mother’s side, as well as having Polish and Irish ancestry on her father’s side, who is American.
—Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ancestry
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestry
Noun
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The result is a Gen Z-meets-mini-Nicole moment that feels like a respectful nod to her famous family lineage.—
Olivia Allen,
Vogue,
12 Sep. 2025
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Agriodontosaurus shows us that the earliest members of the lizard lineage were far more diverse and had a much broader range of feeding strategies than previously imagined.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
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In 2019, the GBI — working with local law enforcement and forensic-genealogy firms — built a family tree for the child.—
Chris Spargo,
PEOPLE,
9 Sep. 2025
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The Bear Brook murders have become a defining example of how genetic genealogy can solve decades-old mysteries, potentially providing closure to families and advancing justice in similar unsolved cases nationwide.—
Adeola Adeosun,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The origins of Godzilla’s name may remain a mystery, but there are no secrets related to its film escapades.—
Michael Taube,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
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Its origins trace back to the 19th century, when the mondine sang it—female laborers in Northern Italy's rice paddies—protesting brutal working conditions and lost youth.—
Amanda Castro
Joshua Rhett Miller,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Unlike the Panthère—crowned the it girl watch of the 2020s—or the Tank Française, with its royal pedigree, the Demoiselle remained overlooked.—
Malaika Crawford,
Vogue,
13 Sep. 2025
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The feel of the game betrays the development team’s excellent Super Mario Odyssey pedigree.—
Mitch Wallace,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Instead, computers became powerful enough that AIs can be churned out by gradient descent, without any human needing to understand the cognitions that grow inside.—
Nate Soares,
The Atlantic,
15 Sep. 2025
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My descent into bodybuilding hasn’t always been accepted warmly by the people in my life.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The typical price of a single-family home in the United States is about $368,000, jumping roughly 13% over the past 5 years and 38% over the last decade, the ABC News data team found.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
11 Sep. 2025
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Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family.—
Chad de Guzman,
Time,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The estimate for total breeding ducks in the traditional survey area was 34 million, unchanged from the 2024 estimate, and 4% below the long-term average (since 1955).—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
16 Sep. 2025
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According to a blog post from the American Kennel Club (AKC), neutering is a surgical procedure that removes a male dog's testicles, which eliminates their ability to reproduce and may reduce male breeding behaviors.—
Maria Morava,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ancestry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestry. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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