ANCESTRAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ancestral mean? 

• ANCESTRAL (adjective)
  The adjective ANCESTRAL has 2 senses:

1. inherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal rules) of descent

2. of or belonging to or inherited from an ancestor

  Familiarity information: ANCESTRAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANCESTRAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Inherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal rules) of descent

Synonyms:

ancestral; hereditary; patrimonial; transmissible

Context example:

transmissible tradition

Similar:

heritable; inheritable (capable of being inherited)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

ancestor (someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or belonging to or inherited from an ancestor

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

ancestor (someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent))

Derivation:

ancestor (someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent))

 Context examples 

Any of a family (Hominidae) of erect bipedal primate mammals comprising recent humans together with extinct ancestral and related forms.

(Hominid, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

A set of genes coding for diverse proteins which, by virtue of their high degree of sequence similarity, are believed to have evolved from a single ancestral gene.

(Gene Family, NCI Thesaurus)

A gene from one species which corresponds to a gene in another species and that is related via a common ancestral species.

(Homologous Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Most hounds share the common ancestral trait of being used for hunting.

(Hound Breed, NCI Thesaurus)

Occurring in one species but corresponding to one in another species that is related via a common ancestral species.

(Orthologous, NCI Thesaurus)

Denotes a person of European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestral origins whose family settled in a North American country such as the United States of America or Canada.

(North American, NCI Thesaurus)

Dr. Roylott then abandoned his attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A group of genetically identical cells all descended from a single common ancestral cell by mitosis in eukaryotes or by binary fission in prokaryotes.

(Cell Clone, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Organisms evolve and "radiate" from an ancestral group, they take on a variety of specialized forms that enable them to live a certain lifestyle or occupy a particular niche.

(Putting the sloth in sloths: Arboreal lifestyle drives slow pace, NSF)

One of two major ancestral groups of Jewish individuals.

(Ashkenazi Jews, NCI Dictionary)