as in lineages
the line of ancestors from whom a person is descended
his family tree includes writers, musical composers, and other notables in the arts
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Recent Examples of family trees
There’s an urge to reconnect with our heritage, and people are undertaking ancestry pilgrimages, combining boots-on-the-ground investigation into family trees and searching for documents in town halls, with discovering the places our ancestors used to call home.
—
Alex Ledsom, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
The Calico paper, for example, relied on data from the genealogy firm Ancestry from family trees involving hundreds of millions of people going back to the 1800s.
—Andrew Joseph, STAT, 29 Jan. 2026
Gone are the elaborate opening credits that trace geography and family trees to guide viewers overwhelmed by exposition.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 13 Jan. 2026
Through shows like Finding Your Roots and 2 Lies & a Leaf, and with the latest advancements in genealogical studies, many A-listers have delved into their family trees and learned about their distant relatives.
—Brendan Le, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
Some served as family trees, each loop of hair tagged with a name.
—David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 6 Oct. 2025
However, once the series took over everyone’s TVs, some internet sleuths determined that their family trees do not cross.
—Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2025
For a year and a half, the detectives first approached a large volume of low-match DNA results which could be traced back to existing American family trees.
—Claire Lempert, ABC News, 12 Sep. 2025
The organization works with law enforcement agencies nationwide, using volunteer investigative genetic genealogists to build extensive family trees and trace DNA matches.
—Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025
Alex Ledsom, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
The Calico paper, for example, relied on data from the genealogy firm Ancestry from family trees involving hundreds of millions of people going back to the 1800s.
—Andrew Joseph, STAT, 29 Jan. 2026
Gone are the elaborate opening credits that trace geography and family trees to guide viewers overwhelmed by exposition.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 13 Jan. 2026
Through shows like Finding Your Roots and 2 Lies & a Leaf, and with the latest advancements in genealogical studies, many A-listers have delved into their family trees and learned about their distant relatives.
—Brendan Le, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
Some served as family trees, each loop of hair tagged with a name.
—David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 6 Oct. 2025
However, once the series took over everyone’s TVs, some internet sleuths determined that their family trees do not cross.
—Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2025
For a year and a half, the detectives first approached a large volume of low-match DNA results which could be traced back to existing American family trees.
—Claire Lempert, ABC News, 12 Sep. 2025
The organization works with law enforcement agencies nationwide, using volunteer investigative genetic genealogists to build extensive family trees and trace DNA matches.
—Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for family trees
Noun
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Ninety million years after our lineages split, humans are beginning to listen to whales in a new way.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
-
Peter Godfrey-Smith, professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Sydney, explores the evolutionary roots of consciousness by tracing how felt experience may have emerged across different animal lineages.—
David L. Coddon,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But many Chicanos trace their lineage to indigenous peoples who survived Spanish colonization, often carrying mixed indigenous, Spanish, and other ancestries, a testament to survival and cultural fusion.—
David Alvarado,
Time,
15 Dec. 2025
-
This lack of representation is problematic for people of different ancestries because genetic risk factors differ across populations.—
Rachel Nuwer,
Scientific American,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Jeremy and Cindy Bearman, a husband-wife duo with pedigrees from New York City’s ABC Kitchen and db Bistro Moderne, have created a seasonal menu that is technique-forward and expressive.—
USA TODAY NETWORK,
USA Today,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Of the group, Lloyd and Bush are probably the top names, with both having notable draft pedigrees and production during their careers.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The seal texts often introduced the owners with their names, genealogies, gender, professions and hometowns.—
Serdar Yalçin,
The Conversation,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Transcripts, grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, glyph studies, botanical studies, commentaries, articles, editions of codices, correspondence, maps, charts, drawings, photographs, Maya Society materials, genealogies of Maya families, and Mayan glyphs on moveable type.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
For Sokolowski, the magnitude of the threat urgently requires more awareness and intervention both by law enforcement as well as health care workers, teachers and families.—
Curt Devine,
CNN Money,
10 Feb. 2026
-
San Francisco public schools shut down on Monday as teachers went on strike demanding improved healthcare benefits and pay raises, leaving the families of some 50,000 students scrambling for child care and meals.—
Christopher Buchanan,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Valentine's Day pagan connections One of the most common explanations is that Valentine's Day has its origins in the ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia.—
Marina Johnson,
IndyStar,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Each lambda also contains a strange quark, or a strange antiquark in the case of an antilambda, which allows physicists to trace its origins.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Family trees.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/family%20trees. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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