ancestral

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A sweeping genetic analysis is challenging one of the simplest versions of the human origin story: the idea that all modern humans arose from a single ancestral population in Africa.

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2026

Instead of needing to assume major contributions from an unknown archaic hominin population in Africa, the model shows how patterns in modern DNA could have emerged from structure within ancestral human populations themselves.

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2026

Mr. Bessent went from boarding schools and debutante balls to serious financial distress and spent a portion of his childhood in the guest house of his ancestral home.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

Elias built the house in his ancestral village nearly 20 years ago, after spending six years saving up.

From BBC • Apr. 23, 2026

Enthusiasts proposed a dozen groups as the ancestral stock: Phoenicians, Basques, Chinese, Scythians, Romans, Africans, “Hindoos,” ancient Greeks, ancient Assyrians, ancient Egyptians, the inhabitants of Atlantis, even straying bands of Welsh.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann