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pertaining to ; descending or claimed from :
an ancestral home.
serving as a forerunner, prototype, or inspiration.
contemporary examples

she turned that ancestral home into a school—and is fighting to give girls a better future.
a fashionista’s india dream: indrani changes the fate of forgotten girls abigail pesta july 9, 2012

even tony greenwich, ancestral home of the bush family, sends a democrat to the house.
how chris christie can win in 2016 lloyd green november 17, 2013

that is to say, the ancestral genes, the ancestral strain of inheritance, appears again in these little children.
joseph campbell on the roots of halloween joseph campbell october 30, 2014

i was also denied access to the archives at her husband’s ancestral home, inveraray castle in scotland.
queen victoria’s illegitimate grandchild tom sykes november 27, 2013

lea lane stern visits their ancestral home in search of the best.
touring belgium, by french fry lea lane stern may 28, 2011

historical examples

in a deity essentially greek, a phoenician colonist may discover something familiar, and claim an ancestral god.
athens: its rise and fall, complete edward bulwer-lytton

“i’ll take you up and show you our ancestral hut,” declared bob martin.
the innocent adventuress mary hastings bradley

we trust that your fair partner, who shares some of our ancestral blood, is in good health.
quentin durward sir walter scott

here, after eighteen years, was he again in his ancestral home of marleigh.
the tavern knight rafael sabatini

if the d-ch-ss is proud of her blue blood and her ancestral tree, so is the gypsy of her black blood and lengthy pedigree.
the gypsy’s parson george hall

adjective
of, inherited from, or derived from ancestors: his ancestral home
noun
(logic) a relation that holds between x and y if there is a chain of instances of a given relation leading from x to y. thus the ancestral of parent of is ancestor of, since x is the ancestor of y if and only if x is a parent of…a parent of…a parent of y
adj.

1520s, from old french ancestrel (anglo-french auncestrel), from ancestre (see ancestor). related: ancestrally.