as in ancestors
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent
the progenitors of today's Maya once ruled a mighty empire that stretched across much of Central America
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Recent Examples of progenitors
The key to calculating the amount of energy blasted out is realizing that the mass of a merger’s resulting black hole is not simply the sum of its progenitors.
—
Phil Plait, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2026
Somewhere in Africa there is a city, town, or village where Henry Fordham’s progenitors lived and died for hundreds or thousands of years, where my distant relatives walk the streets today.
—Eugene Robinson, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2026
Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents, and Duwaji in Texas to Syrian Muslim progenitors.
—José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 2 Jan. 2026
Skye and Billy’s progenitors, by contrast, are revealed to have been free-spirited and independent-minded people who simply left out lots of their complicated, peripatetic story.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Astronomers have long puzzled over the apparent lack of luminous red supergiant stars in pre-explosion images, even though models predict that these stars should dominate the population of core-collapse supernova progenitors.
—Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 8 Oct. 2025
Though some futuristic progenitors didn’t make the original project (there’s still time for a deluxe), many listeners are celebrating the project as a cross-generational mesh of Atlanta greatness.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025
Phil Plait, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2026
Somewhere in Africa there is a city, town, or village where Henry Fordham’s progenitors lived and died for hundreds or thousands of years, where my distant relatives walk the streets today.
—Eugene Robinson, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2026
Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents, and Duwaji in Texas to Syrian Muslim progenitors.
—José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 2 Jan. 2026
Skye and Billy’s progenitors, by contrast, are revealed to have been free-spirited and independent-minded people who simply left out lots of their complicated, peripatetic story.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Astronomers have long puzzled over the apparent lack of luminous red supergiant stars in pre-explosion images, even though models predict that these stars should dominate the population of core-collapse supernova progenitors.
—Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 8 Oct. 2025
Though some futuristic progenitors didn’t make the original project (there’s still time for a deluxe), many listeners are celebrating the project as a cross-generational mesh of Atlanta greatness.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for progenitors
Noun
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Because of that, cats’ predatory instincts and behaviors are still very close to their wild ancestors.—
Popular Science Team,
Popular Science,
27 Feb. 2026
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That such a film would go on to break the record for most Oscar nominations — with 16 including best film and best director for Coogler — is a fulfillment of the ancestors’ dreams.—
Lisa Respers France,
CNN Money,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Sweet Country was about our grandfathers, who were taken as children to become slaves on cattle stations, on ranches.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
12 Feb. 2026
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My grandfathers had both been miners whose early deaths owed much to their working lives.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy, 57 Robert and Ethel’s last child, Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy was born on December 12, 1968, six months after her fathers assassination.—
Elle Meier,
InStyle,
26 Feb. 2026
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Murphy believes the idea is to arrest fathers and cut off income to the family.—
Chris Hoffman,
CBS News,
25 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Progenitors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/progenitors. Accessed 1 Mar. 2026.
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