ancestry

noun

an·​ces·​try ˈan-ˌse-strē 

1

: line of descent : lineage

especially : honorable, noble, or aristocratic descent

2

: persons initiating or comprising a line of descent : ancestors

Synonyms

• birth
• blood
• bloodline
• breeding
• descent
• extraction
• family tree
• genealogy
• line
• lineage
• origin
• parentage
• pedigree
• stock
• strain

Examples of ancestry in a Sentence

They claim to be of noble ancestry.

a person of unknown ancestry

She claims to be able to trace her ancestry all the way back to the earliest settlers.

Recent Examples on the Web

Shortly after, 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in the U.S., many of them citizens, were forced into incarceration camps under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. —Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2025

The Moana Collection Moana’s lip gloss and body wash contain notes of lush greens, plumeria breeze, and sweet coconut water to represent her strength as well as her love for her family and ancestry. —Alanna Martine Kilkeary, Glamour, 12 Feb. 2025

But a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation investigation in 2023 shed doubt on the singer's claims of Indigenous ancestry. —Chloe Veltman, NPR, 8 Feb. 2025

In November 2023, researchers funded by Brin’s Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) program and its partner, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, discovered the gene variant that Brin touted in his email to Forbes–one that nearly quadruples the risk of the disease among people of African ancestry. —Phoebe Liu, Forbes, 6 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

ancestry

noun

an·​ces·​try ˈan-ˌses-trē 

1

: line of descent

2

: one's ancestors