as in grandmother
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Recent Examples of ancestress
The intersection of these two facts does convince me that William's genealogical ancestress, Eliza Kewark, did have South Asian ancestry (not totally surprising even in notionally ethnically distinct groups like Armenians or Parsis who have been long resident in India).
—
Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2013
Instead of being a reticulated mesh the genealogy of mtDNA is a clean and inverted elegant tree leading back to a common ancestress.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 17 Nov. 2010
Meanwhile, Alice, Dana’s ancestress, never becomes much more than a moral quandary: a stubborn victim who is unable to adapt.
—Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2021
Yang Asha is the mythical ancestress of the Miao people, an ethnic minority in China closely related to the Hmong of Southeast Asia.
—Keith Bradsher, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2020
His own mother, aged ninety, who remembered her aunt, had been able to share stories of their ancestress with the grandchildren who’d had no idea, before now, what their background might be.
—Susan Choi, Harper's magazine, 6 Jan. 2020
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan’s emperors.
—Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2019
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan's emperors.
—NBC News, 22 Oct. 2019
Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2013
Instead of being a reticulated mesh the genealogy of mtDNA is a clean and inverted elegant tree leading back to a common ancestress.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 17 Nov. 2010
Meanwhile, Alice, Dana’s ancestress, never becomes much more than a moral quandary: a stubborn victim who is unable to adapt.
—Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2021
Yang Asha is the mythical ancestress of the Miao people, an ethnic minority in China closely related to the Hmong of Southeast Asia.
—Keith Bradsher, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2020
His own mother, aged ninety, who remembered her aunt, had been able to share stories of their ancestress with the grandchildren who’d had no idea, before now, what their background might be.
—Susan Choi, Harper's magazine, 6 Jan. 2020
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan’s emperors.
—Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2019
Enshrined at Kashikodokoro is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythological ancestress of Japan's emperors.
—NBC News, 22 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestress
Noun
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Although it was first made in 1957, Boursin cheese is an ingredient that your grandmother probably wouldn't recognize.—
Josh Miller,
Southern Living,
22 Mar. 2025
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The child is not a resident of the neighborhood and was visiting his grandmother at the time of the incident.—
Samira Asma-Sadeque,
People.com,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The ephemerides were the ancestors of astronomical tables, which still exist.—
James Byrne,
The Conversation,
17 Mar. 2025
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The auntie’s going to always be there for her niece as an ancestor.—
Fox Maxy,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Eala’s grandfather, a tennis buff, introduced all his grandchildren to the sport at his local club.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
26 Mar. 2025
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The complainants said the abusive behavior began as soon as Farley, a 26-year veteran of the department whose father and grandfather were deputy chiefs, was appointed the top job.—
David Matthews,
New York Daily News,
26 Mar. 2025
Noun
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For decades, Posey has influenced how New Yorkers dress, but thanks to her scene-stealing turn as a Lorazepam-sipping matriarch on The White Lotus, she’s found herself squarely in the fashion zeitgeist once again.—
Freya Drohan,
Vogue,
21 Mar. 2025
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In 2024, Kelly Bishop, who played the show’s matriarch Emily Gilmore, released her memoir The Third Gilmore Girl, which details her time on the series.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
People.com,
17 Mar. 2025
Noun
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By 1900, tonkatsu pork cutlet (progenitor of the katsu sando) had been invented at a restaurant called Rengatei in the ultra-modern Ginza district, which also gave rise to omurice (a phonetic portmanteau of omelet and rice).—
Betty Hallock,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Mar. 2025
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This version of the Democratic Party, which featured the progenitor of wokeism, Obama himself, as the leading presidential campaign trail surrogate for Harris, was thoroughly rejected in November by the American people.—
Newsweek,
Newsweek,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The country’s new leaders could learn from the mistakes of their Islamist forebears and avoid a system of government with slim chances of success.—
Marwan Muasher,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Feb. 2025
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This culminates in a Satanic-possession plot that eschews the pseudo-realism of Longlegs’s detective-thriller forebears.—
Beatrice Loayza,
Vulture,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Through our hair and its many rituals, remain the herbalism of our foremothers in the new world, passing down their ingenuity of homemade balms, creams, and oils for hair growth.—
Eshe Ukweli,
refinery29.com,
7 June 2023
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In fact, precursors to modern bleaching processes didn’t come on the scene until the turn of the 20th century, leaving our foremothers and forefathers plenty of time to get creative with their blonde pursuits.—
AJ Willingham,
CNN,
28 May 2023
Noun
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The British Last Week Tonight host, who previously served as a writer and correspondent on The Daily Show for seven years, returned during Monday's episode to jokingly celebrate the country becoming just like its forefather.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
11 Feb. 2025
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Rise up like the American forefathers did a few hundred years ago.—
Joe Hudicka,
Forbes,
20 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ancestress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestress. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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