How do you use the word "ancestor" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "ancestor" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "ancestor": During O-bon, Japanese people believe they receive a visit from an ancestor. English and German share a common ancestor.

Ancestor Meaning

/ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounOne from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather; a forebear.

nounAn earlier type; a progenitor.

Sentence Examples

During O-bon, Japanese people believe they receive a visit from an ancestor.

English and German share a common ancestor.

All living beings would have evolved from a common ancestor.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

root antecedent

Antonyms:

descendant

CEFR Practice Quiz

My great-grandfather was an immigrant and a direct ____ of our family line.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

My great-grandfather was an ____ who came to this country by boat.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts Proto-Indo-European *-i Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti Proto-Italic *anti Latin ante Latin ante- Proto-Italic *kezdō Latin cedo Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin antecessor Anglo-Norman auncestrebor. Middle English auncestre English ancestor From Middle English ancestre, auncestre, ancessour; the first forms from Old French ancestre (modern French ancêtre), from the Latin nominative antecessor (“one who goes before”); the last form from Old French ancessor, from Latin antecessōrem, accusative of antecessor, from antecēdō (“to go before”) + -tor (“-er”), from ante- (“before”) + cēdō (“to go”). See cede, and compare with antecessor.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless." — 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2023:

"Some of the descendants of this cyclopean ancestor left their burrows and started to swim." — 2026 February 23, Carl Zimmer, “The Rise of Eyes Began With Just One. Even Charles Darwin was puzzled by the evolution of the vertebrate eye. New research suggests that it traces back to a cyclopean invertebrate with a single eye atop the head”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2026:

"The Magpies are unbeaten and enjoying their best run since 1994, although few would have thought the class of 2011 would come close to emulating their ancestors." — 2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1-2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2024:

"Her own grandfather had been a Virginian, a descendant of Pocahontas, of course, Pocahontas having been created by Divine Providence for the specific purpose of ancestoring Virginians." — 1920, Marie Conway Oemler, The Purple Heights, page 9:

"But he could have completed it: Lucas Quintus Carothers McCaslin Beauchamp. Last surviving sone and child of Tomey's Terrel and Tennie Beauchamp. March 17, 1874 except that there was no need: not Lucius Quintus &c &c &c, but Lucas Quintus, not refusing to be called Lucius, because he simply eliminated that word from the name; not denying, declining the name itself, because he used three quarters of it; but simply taking the name and changing, altering it, making it no longer the white man's but his own , by himself composed, himself selfprogenitive and nominate, by himself ancestored, as, for all the old ledgers recorded to the contrary, old Carothers himself was" — 1942, William Faulkner, “The Bear”, in Go down, Moses: and other stories, page 281:

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