ancestor vs descendant :

ancestor or descendant

When Albus Dumbledore said that Lord Voldemort was “the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin,” more than one person noted that he had made a serious verbal bumble; and in later printings of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets author J. K. Rowling corrected that to “last remaining descendant.” People surprisingly often confuse these two terms with each other. Your great-grandmother is your ancestor; you are her descendant.

Facebook Twitter Google +


  Do you make these 10 mistakes?
Definitions
  ancestor
  • n  someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
  descendant
  • n  a person considered as descended from some ancestor or race
  • s  going or coming down
  • s  proceeding by descent from an ancestor
News & Articles
  ancestor
  descendant
  • Lily Collins: New 'Mortal Instruments' Trailer & Stills!
    Lily Collins hops on the back of a motorcycle with Jamie Campbell Bower in this new still from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked [...]
    June 17, 2013 - Just Jared Jr.
  • BRISTOL BITS: Manross family descendant wants to meet with local kin
    I received an e-mail through the Bristol Historical Society as the research committee chairman and it’s from a Manross family descendant, Elizabeth Dameron.
    June 14, 2013 - The Bristol Press
  • DNA tests say what about prince?
    Britain's royal family has long been taunted for its German roots, but now a more exotic lineage can be revealed after evidence emerged indicating that Prince William is the direct descendant of an Indian woman.
    June 14, 2013 - CNN