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ancestry

American  
[an-ses-tree, -suh-stree] / ˈæn sɛs tri, -sə stri /

noun

plural

ancestries

  1. family or ancestral descent; lineage.

    Synonyms:
    stock, genealogy, pedigree

  2. honorable or distinguished descent.

    famous by title and ancestry.

  3. a series of ancestors.

    His ancestry settled Utah.
    Synonyms:
    line, family

  4. the inception or origin of a phenomenon, object, idea, or style.

  5. the history or developmental process of a phenomenon, object, idea, or style.

ancestry British  
/ ˈænsɛstrɪ /

noun

  1. lineage or descent, esp when ancient, noble, or distinguished

  2. ancestors collectively

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ancestry

1300–50; Middle English, equivalent to ancestre ancestor + -y 3; replacing Middle English aunce ( s ) trie < Anglo-French

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Those fonder of Hawthorne the magical realist will have plenty to appreciate as well, not least of which that Donatello’s true ancestry—whether human or faun—is never definitively established.

From The Wall Street Journal

US President Thomas Jefferson, revolutionist Francis Lewis and Griffith Jenkin Griffith, "one of the true pioneers of Los Angeles", are also given an honourable mention by Rhys thanks to their Welsh ancestry.

From BBC

Instead of processing it on CODIS, they used another part of the DNA to search for potential relatives of the unknown killer in ancestry databases.

From Los Angeles Times

The highest rates were found among people with ancestry from north west Ireland, where about one in 54 people are estimated to carry the variant.

From Science Daily

They also set up a recruiting station at high-level age-grade rugby events, inviting those with the ancestry and interest to scan a QR code and enter their details.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.