as in ancestor
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent
the progenitors of today's Maya once ruled a mighty empire that stretched across much of Central America
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 progenitor
By 1900, tonkatsu pork cutlet (progenitor of the katsu sando) had been invented at a restaurant called Rengatei in the ultra-modern Ginza district, which also gave rise to omurice (a phonetic portmanteau of omelet and rice).
—
Betty Hallock, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
Ghetto house became the progenitor of Chicago’s thriving juke and footwork scenes, and artists including RP Boo and the United Kingdom’s Night Slugs collective have taken to social media to pay tribute to DJ Funk and his lasting impact on their work.
—Walden Green, Pitchfork, 7 Mar. 2025
This version of the Democratic Party, which featured the progenitor of wokeism, Obama himself, as the leading presidential campaign trail surrogate for Harris, was thoroughly rejected in November by the American people.
—Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
By calculating the positions of nearby stellar clusters through time, the researchers identified two main suspects that could have housed the supernova progenitor.
—Michael Irving, New Atlas, 2 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for progenitor
Betty Hallock, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
Ghetto house became the progenitor of Chicago’s thriving juke and footwork scenes, and artists including RP Boo and the United Kingdom’s Night Slugs collective have taken to social media to pay tribute to DJ Funk and his lasting impact on their work.
—Walden Green, Pitchfork, 7 Mar. 2025
This version of the Democratic Party, which featured the progenitor of wokeism, Obama himself, as the leading presidential campaign trail surrogate for Harris, was thoroughly rejected in November by the American people.
—Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
By calculating the positions of nearby stellar clusters through time, the researchers identified two main suspects that could have housed the supernova progenitor.
—Michael Irving, New Atlas, 2 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for progenitor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for progenitor
Noun
-
Florentine society had changed a good deal since the days of their illustrious ancestor; noble blood had in fact become something of a liability.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
29 May 2025
-
One of these two lineages is the ancestor of the present-day strains, while the other strain re-emerged over centuries in Europe and went extinct by the early 19th century.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
29 May 2025
Noun
-
Even more breathtaking than Williams' entrance, though, was her brief scene beside the bed of Jen's dying grandfather, which would ultimately kick off the first of countless tearjerker moments peppered throughout the series.—
Jen Juneau,
People.com,
24 May 2025
-
After his grandfather died a few years later, Pitsaev and his mom moved back to Chechnya.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
24 May 2025
Noun
-
These individuals were someone’s son, brother, father, and community members, yet they were treated as less than human. New York jails and prisons house more individuals with mental illness than any psychiatric hospital in the country.—
Justyna Rzewinski,
New York Daily News,
21 May 2025
-
Jelena Dokic, a former world No. 4 and Wimbledon semifinalist, has confirmed that her estranged father, Damir, has died aged 67.—
Charlie Eccleshare,
New York Times,
21 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Progenitor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/progenitor. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share