ANCESTRESS Synonyms: 31 Similar and Opposite Words

ancestress

noun

Definition of ancestress

as in grandmother

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of ancestress 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 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestress

Noun

In addition to those shot, a victim’s grandmother was injured while fleeing the scene near Florida A&M’s Bragg Memorial Stadium.

— Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2026
The girls sometimes lived with their grandmother or an aunt, other times with their mother and Lasha’s father, who was a part of the sisters’ lives on and off until he was convicted of armed bank robbery in 2003.

— Anja Aronowsky Cronberg, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of grandmother

Noun

Animal print, of course, has long been a fixture in the Kardashian-Jenner matriarch’s wardrobe.

— Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 24 Oct. 2026
Ingunn Rasmussen, the warm, chatty matriarch behind Kitchen on the Edge (and hiking guide Audun's sister), took over the property in October 2001 and now runs it with her son, Håvar Holmen.

— Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of matriarch

Noun

According to family history, DaCosta Levy’s family lineage traced to Portugal, where his ancestors had been mariners — almost certainly Sephardic Jews who scattered across the Atlantic world after the Inquisition.

— Zachary Kranc, Sun Sentinel, 27 Oct. 2026
Government officials previously said that these 11 families split from a common male-line ancestor some 600 years ago, and are now at least 36 degrees of kinship from Naruhito.

— Chad de Guzman, Time, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of ancestor

Noun

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
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

Definition of foremother

Noun

Their forebears at the Academy snubbed canonical documentaries like The Thin Blue Line, Roger & Me, and Hoop Dreams.

— Nate Jones, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
First our forebears began to imitate peers learned behaviors, creating group norms that supported coordinated work.

— Michael Morris, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of forebear

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Style

“Ancestress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestress. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of ancestress

noun

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