family trees

noun

plural of family tree
as in lineages
the line of ancestors from whom a person is descended his family tree includes writers, musical composers, and other notables in the arts

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

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 family trees The family trees here have a lot of branches and some of them are a bit rotten. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 July 2026 The case was built by forensic genetic genealogy, which is the same science that traced DNA family trees to find the Golden State Killer in California and help solve the Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin, Texas. — Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 16 July 2026 The samples helped people discover entirely new family trees and could reveal consequential health information, such as a genetic predisposition to cancer. — Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2026 The Oscar-winning actress and former Vogue editor-in-chief are related, according to an analysis of family trees and public records done by DNA testing company Ancestry. — Melina Khan, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2026 Unfortunately, those answers often appear directly in public family trees. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Mar. 2026 As family trees expand, more stakeholders enter the conversation, and priorities can diverge. — Belinda G. Schwartz, Fortune, 7 Mar. 2026 Virtually every previous Scream film has revealed whole new branches of the various characters’ family trees, and this one is no exception. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Feb. 2026 The technology has previously achieved major successes in solving high-profile cold cases by tracing family trees through DNA databases. — Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 19 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for family trees
  1. lineages
  2. ancestries
  3. pedigrees
  4. genealogies
  5. families
  6. origins
Noun
  • The research team, led by Ellie Bourgikos and Nathan Grubaugh at the Yale School of Public Health, estimates that one of the virus’s two major lineages arrived in the Northeast by the early 1700s.
    — John Drake, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026
  • Because everyone will have access to the same information, AI will accentuate the value of personal connections, again promoting lineages and networks that at their most extreme may appear to be sinister establishment conspiracies.
    — Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026
Definition of lineages
Noun
  • In a small number of cases, similar ancestries were grouped together.
    — Albert Sun, New York Times, 2 July 2026
  • Eastern and western ancestries in Karelian Mesolithic dogs suggest that two lineages diverged during the Paleolithic.
    — Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 30 Mar. 2026
Definition of ancestries
Noun
  • The son of a major leaguer turned long-time coach and brother of the Yankees’ top prospect, Jacob has perhaps one of the best pedigrees in this draft class.
    — Charlotte Varnes, New York Times, 11 July 2026
  • Project Hail Mary’s position will also be tested against new releases from filmmakers with stronger Oscar pedigrees.
    — Sophia Morano, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
Definition of pedigrees
Noun
  • The seal texts often introduced the owners with their names, genealogies, gender, professions and hometowns.
    — Serdar Yalçin, The Conversation, 3 Nov. 2025
  • 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
Definition of genealogies
Noun
  • Saturday’s camp concluded with families getting autographs from and taking pictures with Agbaji.
    — Alexa Stone, Kansas City Star, 18 July 2026
  • The courage Sullenberger wants to summon now is personal and intimate and unfolds in millions of families every day.
    — Scott Simon, NPR, 18 July 2026
Definition of families
Noun
  • Latinx historians in the volume raise another possibility, that the country’s origins run through the West as well, not only through Virginia or Philadelphia.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
  • Groves will mine personal archives, company records, patents and the sporting press to document Fred Perry’s origins from 1952 and reframe its legacy for today.
    — Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 23 July 2026
Definition of origins

Browse Nearby Words

family tree
family trees
family way
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Cite this Entry

“Family trees.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/family%20trees. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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