as in fathers
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent
this tradition has been passed down from our pioneer grandfathers
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Recent Examples of grandfathers
The captains were the fathers, or at least the grandfathers, of this genre.
—
Literary Hub, 21 Apr. 2026
Her grandfathers were military.
—Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 7 Apr. 2026
College-age amateurs competing alongside former champions old enough to be their grandfathers is a longstanding Masters tradition.
—Jack Leo, AJC.com, 4 Apr. 2026
Robert Pelot, the owner of Pelot’s Rexall Pharmacy, said it’s been in his family since one of his great-grandfathers moved to the Bradenton area from Indiana in the late 1800s.
—Amaia Gavica, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Is this the noble cause that our grandfathers would have shed their blood for 85 years ago?
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 4 Mar. 2026
His grandfathers, fishermen Pietro Tarantino and Gaetano D’Acquisto, immigrated to the area from Porticello, Sicily, in the early 1900s and settled in Little Italy.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Feb. 2026
And the same impressive nature was true of both women's grandfathers, says Jones.
—Alex Ross, PEOPLE, 20 Jan. 2026
In the early sixties, one of Chiasson’s grandfathers worked on a crew that blasted a route through the Winooski River Valley to bring Interstate 89 up to Burlington.
—Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
Literary Hub, 21 Apr. 2026
Her grandfathers were military.
—Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 7 Apr. 2026
College-age amateurs competing alongside former champions old enough to be their grandfathers is a longstanding Masters tradition.
—Jack Leo, AJC.com, 4 Apr. 2026
Robert Pelot, the owner of Pelot’s Rexall Pharmacy, said it’s been in his family since one of his great-grandfathers moved to the Bradenton area from Indiana in the late 1800s.
—Amaia Gavica, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Is this the noble cause that our grandfathers would have shed their blood for 85 years ago?
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 4 Mar. 2026
His grandfathers, fishermen Pietro Tarantino and Gaetano D’Acquisto, immigrated to the area from Porticello, Sicily, in the early 1900s and settled in Little Italy.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Feb. 2026
And the same impressive nature was true of both women's grandfathers, says Jones.
—Alex Ross, PEOPLE, 20 Jan. 2026
In the early sixties, one of Chiasson’s grandfathers worked on a crew that blasted a route through the Winooski River Valley to bring Interstate 89 up to Burlington.
—Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grandfathers
Noun
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While there are plenty of fathers who do this job in the modern age, the load-bearing parent is still the mother of the family much more often than not.—
William Jones,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
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Absent parents, especially fathers, represent a significant cause of estrangement; mental illness is often a factor too.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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All of us are here because, over millennia of acts of God and wars and disease, our ancestors trusted the hours.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Regardless of whether plans are rejigged, there will be plenty of pomp and circumstance for Charles, 77, as befitting a state visit of a British king to a country that his ancestors once ruled.—
Yuliya Talmazan,
NBC news,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Grandfathers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grandfathers. Accessed 4 May. 2026.
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