I. ˈanˌsestə(r), ˈaan-, Brit usually & US sometimes -_sə̇s- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English ancestre, ancessour, from Old French ancestre (from Late Latin antecessor, nominative), ancessour (from Late Latin antecessorem, accusative), from Late Latin antecessor predecessor, from Latin, one that goes in front, from antecessus (past participle of antecedere to go before, from ante- ante- + cedere to go) + -or — more at cede
1. : one from whom a person is descended and who is usually more remote in the line of descent than a grandparent ; specifically : one from whom an estate has descended, at the common law being originally only a person in the line of ascent and later also of descent, but under the statutes including any person of lineal or collateral relationship from whom the property has been derived by descent — compare heir
2. : something belonging to a relatively early developmental period of a contemporary or fully developed object or phenomenon : forerunner , prototype
modern scholarly ideas and their classic Greek ancestors
the ancestors of today's station wagon — Mildred B. Smith
3. : a progenitor (as one living in an earlier geological period) of a more recent or existing species or group
species descended from a 5-chromosome ancestor — E.B.Babcock
Synonyms:
progenitor , forefather , forebear (or forbear ): ancestor implies lineal descent through father or mother but may apply to kinship through collaterals or race, never, however, being applied except humorously to a relation within family memory
have ancestors in British royal families
generation after generation adding its part … to what their ancestors had begun — Manès Sperber
we have a better chance of living far beyond 55, and even well beyond 65, than our ancestors had — W.J.Reilly
progenitor can include parents or grandparents as well as ancestors though it generally involves no family or racial feeling, usually suggesting a reference to heredity or the transmission of characters
the Finlayson family, whose progenitors came to America from Scotland in l800 — American Guide Series: Florida
the wild relatives of the goat include the pasang [which is] generally regarded as the true progenitor of all our modern domesticated breeds — V.A.Rice & F.N.Andrews
forefather is more common than ancestor in rhetorical or poetic context, usually emphasizing family feeling or family or group unity
political beliefs for which our forefathers gladly fought and died
forebear is interchangeable with though more neutral than ancestor , being generally devoid of associations with feeling
one of his forebears fought under Washington in the Revolutionary War — Current Biography
carnivals, in which the members impersonate their primal forbears — American Guide Series: Oregon
this male specialization in strength must indeed … have been inherited from our ape forebears — Weston La Barre
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to provide with ancestors
the biographer finally gets his subject ancestored and born
: be the ancestor of
the man who ancestored many of the residents of this place