Meaning & use
lineage
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
The chain of ancestors through whom a person or family is descended, or the family history that links them.
Grammar: Can be countable when comparing lines of descent, but is usually uncountable: she traced her lineage.
Patterns
- trace a lineage
- lineage from someone
- a lineage of something
She traced her lineage back to a ship's captain from the 1700s.
The prince's royal lineage is recorded in old church books.
Their family lineage includes several famous painters.
nouncountablebiology
In biology, a continuous line of descent from a common ancestor, such as a group of related species or cells.
Grammar: Used in scientific writing: the whale lineage.
Patterns
- a lineage of something
- a lineage within something
Genetic evidence shows that whales evolved from a land-dwelling lineage.
Researchers followed the lineage of each cell as the embryo developed.
The virus split into two distinct lineages during the outbreak.
nouncountable or uncountablefigurative
The origins and history of an idea, tradition, or organization, showing what it grew out of.
Grammar: Often used with intellectual or artistic: an intellectual lineage.
Patterns
- the lineage of something
The lineage of the style can be traced to early jazz.
The school claims a long intellectual lineage from ancient Greece.
Each new model of the car shares a lineage with the original.
Word forms
| plural | lineages |
|---|
Common combinations
- trace one's lineage
- He traced his lineage to a small village in Poland.
- royal lineage
- She is proud of her royal lineage.
- noble lineage
- The family boasted a noble lineage dating to the 12th century.
- direct lineage
- The company is a direct lineage descendant of the original shop.
- of ancient lineage
- The tradition is of ancient lineage.
- maternal lineage
- Her maternal lineage can be followed through four generations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ancestry
- Ancestry means the people you descend from, while lineage stresses the unbroken line connecting them to you.
- descent
- Descent is shorter and more general, often used in phrases like of Irish descent.
- pedigree
- A pedigree is a documented record of ancestry, often for animals, whereas lineage is the line itself.
- heritage
- Heritage includes the culture and traditions you inherit, not just the ancestors.
Word family
- lineal adjective
- coming directly in a line from an ancestor
- lineally adverb
- in a direct line of descent
- matrilineal adjective
- following descent through the mother's side
- patrilineal adjective
- following descent through the father's side
- line noun
- a series of people who follow one another in a family
Commonly confused: lineage or linage? lineage or heritage?
lineage vs linage
Linage is an unusual spelling meaning the number of lines in printed text, so lineage with the e is the word for ancestry.
lineage vs heritage
Heritage covers culture, customs, and traditions handed down, while lineage is specifically the family line.
Practice
Which word best completes: Using old records, she traced her family's ___ back to the 1600s.
Choose one answer.
Lineage means a line of descent from ancestors, so it fits the idea of tracing family history. Linkage, luggage, and language are unrelated words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “lineage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.