清單上的名詞意思非常接近，每一個(gè)嚴(yán)格來(lái)說(shuō)都是指一個(gè)人的祖先。ancestor,forebear,和forefather幾乎都不用于父母和祖父母，但是，progenitor有時(shí)候用于他們或是更久遠(yuǎn)的祖先?！綼lthough napoleon and his immediate progenitors are corsicans,he is considered by most modern frenchmen to have been as french as their own ancestors.】 ancestor 和 progenitor經(jīng)常被用于除人以外的事物?！緀ohippus was an ancestor of the horse; the progenitors of italian lyric verse forms were those used by the troubadours of provence.】在這個(gè)意思里，progenitor指的是創(chuàng)造，造成或?qū)е乱环N新事物發(fā)展的早期形式；ancesstor,即使在擴(kuò)展意義中，也保留著歷史發(fā)展的概念，它的過(guò)程是由人們無(wú)法控制并知之甚少的力量決定的?！総he impressionist movement was one of the ancestors of abstract art;johnson's dictionary was the progenitor of many others that followed its style and treatment of language.】 forefather和forebear常被用于復(fù)數(shù)形式。在詩(shī)歌里forefather是被用得最多的，它指強(qiáng)烈的家庭和種族感情，或持續(xù)地定居在一個(gè)地方，而forebears這一含義的程度要小得多。 反義詞：descendant, offspring,progeny
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?翻譯自《choose the right word》