| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| ancestor |
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| SYLLABICATION: | an·ces·tor |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   n s s t r |
| NOUN: | 1. A person from whom one is descended, especially if more remote than a grandparent; a forebear. 2. A forerunner or predecessor. 3. Law The person from whom an estate has been inherited. 4. Biology The actual or hypothetical organism or stock from which later kinds evolved. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English auncestre, from Old French, from Latin antecessor, predecessor, from antecessus, past participle of antec dere, to precede : ante-, ante- + cdere, to go; see ked- in Appendix I. | | SYNONYMS: | ancestor, forebear, forefather, progenitor These nouns denote a person from whom one is descended: ancestors who were farmers; land once owned by his forebears; laws handed down from our forefathers; our progenitors' wisdom. | | ANTONYM: | descendant
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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