family trees

noun

plural of family tree
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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 family trees For centuries, genealogists have used paper records to build family trees. — Chris Boyette, CNN Money, 25 July 2026 The family trees here have a lot of branches and some of them are a bit rotten. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 July 2026 The case was built by forensic genetic genealogy, which is the same science that traced DNA family trees to find the Golden State Killer in California and help solve the Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin, Texas. — Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 16 July 2026 The samples helped people discover entirely new family trees and could reveal consequential health information, such as a genetic predisposition to cancer. — Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2026 The Oscar-winning actress and former Vogue editor-in-chief are related, according to an analysis of family trees and public records done by DNA testing company Ancestry. — Melina Khan, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2026 Unfortunately, those answers often appear directly in public family trees. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Mar. 2026 As family trees expand, more stakeholders enter the conversation, and priorities can diverge. — Belinda G. Schwartz, Fortune, 7 Mar. 2026 Virtually every previous Scream film has revealed whole new branches of the various characters’ family trees, and this one is no exception. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for family trees
  1. lineages
  2. ancestries
  3. pedigrees
  4. genealogies
  5. families
  6. origins
Noun
  • The research team, led by Ellie Bourgikos and Nathan Grubaugh at the Yale School of Public Health, estimates that one of the virus’s two major lineages arrived in the Northeast by the early 1700s.
    — John Drake, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026
  • Because everyone will have access to the same information, AI will accentuate the value of personal connections, again promoting lineages and networks that at their most extreme may appear to be sinister establishment conspiracies.
    — Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026
Definition of lineages
Noun
  • In a small number of cases, similar ancestries were grouped together.
    — Albert Sun, New York Times, 2 July 2026
  • Eastern and western ancestries in Karelian Mesolithic dogs suggest that two lineages diverged during the Paleolithic.
    — Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 30 Mar. 2026
Definition of ancestries
Noun
  • Lower-budget genre films—Backrooms, Obsession and Iron Lung, many driven by creators with YouTube and small-screen pedigrees—have broken through with younger viewers.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 30 July 2026
  • The son of a major leaguer turned long-time coach and brother of the Yankees’ top prospect, Jacob has perhaps one of the best pedigrees in this draft class.
    — Charlotte Varnes, New York Times, 11 July 2026
Definition of pedigrees
Noun
  • 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
Definition of genealogies
Noun
  • Three wildfires are burning in Spokane County, Washington, and thousands of families have been ordered to flee their homes overnight, as state officials warn of an incredibly dangerous situation and brace for what daylight may reveal.
    — Martin Goillandeau, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026
  • This allowed Amanda to collect data and better understand the scale and specific needs of local families before the summer.
    — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of families
Noun
  • The first women’s pro league in 72 years will honor the game’s origins and its pioneers.
    — James Raia, Mercury News, 31 July 2026
  • The origins of the potluck One of the first references to large communal meals where every attendee contributed is in the Bible.
    — Shoshi Parks, Popular Science, 30 July 2026
Definition of origins

Browse Nearby Words

family tree
family trees
family way
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Cite this Entry

“Family trees.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/family%20trees. Accessed 4 Aug. 2026.

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