different between ancestor vs dreamtime

English

Alternative forms

• ancestour (obsolete)
• auncestor (obsolete)
• auncestour (obsolete)

Etymology

Middle English ancestre, auncestre, ancessour; the first forms from Old French ancestre (modern French ancêtre), from the Latin nominative antecessor one who goes before; the last form from Old French ancessor, from Latin accusative antecessorem, from antecedo (“to go before”); ante (“before”) + cedo (“to go”). See cede, and compare with antecessor.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æn.s?s.t?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?æn.s?s.t?/
• Hyphenation: an?ces?tor

Noun

ancestor (plural ancestors)

1. One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather.
2. An earlier type; a progenitor

3. (law) One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
4. (figuratively) One who had the same role or function in former times.
5. (linguistics) A word or phrase which serves as the origin of a term in another language.

Usage notes

• There is a rare feminine form ancestress

Synonyms

• (person from whom one is descended): forebear, fore-elder, forefather
• (previous fulfiller of a role or duty): predecessor
• (originating word): reflex, source, origin

Antonyms

• descendant
• afterbear

Derived terms

• cenancestor
• trancestor
• grandcestor
• ancestry

Translations

Verb

ancestor (third-person singular simple present ancestors, present participle ancestoring, simple past and past participle ancestored)

1. (transitive) To be an ancestor of.

Anagrams

• Canteros, Conatser, carstone, enactors, entosarc, sarconet, sortance