ancestor

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

an·ces·tor [ancestor ancestors] BrE [ˈænsestə(r)] NAmE [ˈænsestər] noun
1. a person in your family who lived a long time ago
Syn: ↑forebear
•His ancestors had come to America from Ireland.
2. an animal that lived in the past which a modern animal has developed from
•a reptile that was the common ancestor of lizards and turtles
3. an early form of a machine which later became more developed
Syn: ↑forerunner
•The ancestor of the modern bicycle was called a penny-farthing.
compare ↑descendant
Derived Word: ↑ancestral

Word Origin:
Middle English: from Old French ancestre, from Latin antecessor, from antecedere, from ante ‘before’ + cedere ‘go’.

Example Bank:
•He can trace his ancestors back to the reign of Elizabeth I.
•He claims as his literary ancestors such giants as Henry James and William Faulkner.
•Our earliest ancestors lived in a world fraught with danger.
•The Romans built these monuments to glorify their illustrious ancestors.
•The builder of the house was a direct ancestor of the present owner.
•The two species share a common ancestor.
•They honour/honor their ancestors and believe in the spirits of nature.
•a distant ancestor of mine

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  ascendant, ascendent, antecedent, root
• Từ trái nghĩa / Antonyms:
  descendant, descendent