Definitions for ancestor

• Definition
• Anagrams (680)

ancestor an·ces·tor

Spelling: [an-ses-ter or, esp. British, -suh-ster]

IPA: /ˈæn sɛs tər or, esp. British, -sə stər/

Ancestor is a 8 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 10 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 12 points.

You can make 680 anagrams from letters in ancestor (acenorst).

Definitions for ancestor

noun

1. a person from whom one is descended; forebear; progenitor.
2. Biology. the actual or hypothetical form or stock from which an organism has developed or descended.
3. an object, idea, style, or occurrence serving as a prototype, forerunner, or inspiration to a later one:
4. a person who serves as an influence or model for another; one from whom mental, artistic, spiritual, etc., descent is claimed:
5. Law. a person from whom an heir derives an inheritance.

Origin of ancestor

1250-1300; Middle English ancestre Old French (with t developed between s and r) Latin antecessor antecessor

Examples for ancestor

The fate of the ancestor had been typical of that of his descendants.

Soon after he was seen stumping for the Assad regime in his ancestor's conflagrated homeland.

So a story prefigures Light in August, just as an ancestor precedes a descendant.

An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own.

An Artaud, their ancestor, had come hither and settled like a pariah in this waste.

That "digital" gesture is a reminder that weavings are the ancestor of today's computer-treated images.

It is possible to name an ancestor to this obsessive-compulsive noir: David Lynch.

The ancestor of Pi-Lo nearly destroyed our entire clan by fire.

Schiele is, if nothing else, an ancestor of the best in long-legged fashion illustration.

The caterpillar, for example, resembles the worm which is the ancestor of the insects.