ANCESTRESS Synonyms: 31 Similar and Opposite Words

ancestress

noun

Definition of ancestress

as in grandmother

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Recent Examples of ancestress 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 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ancestress

Noun

Dondi Voigt Persyn, a mother of three and grandmother of four from Boerne, Texas – on a hill above the Guadalupe River about 35 miles from the disaster zone – joined as a volunteer.

— Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN Money, 6 July 2026
By the time Harry reached Balmoral on his own, his grandmother was dead.

— Jennifer Hassan, USA Today, 6 July 2026

Definition of grandmother

Noun

Brown remembered that Sarah Parsley, the octogenarian matriarch of the family, greeted partygoers from a wheelchair, assisted by a Black nurse.

— Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 3 July 2026
After high school, the Kelce matriarch became the first person in her family to graduate from college, earning a bachelor’s degree in communications from Ohio University.

— Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 2 July 2026

Definition of matriarch

Noun

And discovering Grace Paley’s work was like discovering an ancestor.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 July 2026
In between Amos’s lines, In Times of Dragons is a saga of survival introducing different muses along the way, from a real-life ancestor, a martyr who fell in love with Jesus, and a group of rugged women.

— Tina Eves, SPIN, 13 July 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

Back home in Wilmington, Cynthia Brown built community the way her forebears had built houses—tirelessly and elegantly in the course of years.

— Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 3 July 2026
For anyone wanting to see or experience the sites and vestiges of Miami’s ancient inhabitants, the people known as Tequesta and their even more enigmatic Archaic forebears, there are only a few places to go.

— Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 30 June 2026

Definition of forebear

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“Ancestress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ancestress. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of ancestress

noun

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