Definition of "ancestor" []

• A person from whom one is descended, especially if more remote than a grandparent; a forebear. (noun)
• A forerunner or predecessor. (noun)
• Law The person from whom an estate has been inherited. (noun)
• Biology The actual or hypothetical organism or stock from which later kinds evolved. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But the term ancestor - worship seems to me much too confined for the religion which pays reverence not only to those ancient gods believed to be the fathers of the Japanese race, but likewise to a host of deified sovereigns, heroes, princes, and illustrious men."
• "He talks with Jenna about his ancestor from the 1800′s, Jonathon Gilbert, and how he did all of this writing about demons and people being slaughtered."
• "Meanwhile Black Jack Randall, her husband's ancestor is likewise extremely suspicious of this English woman who popped up out of nowhere on his turf, so to speak."