Meaning & use
pedigree
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
The written record of an animal's parents and earlier ancestors, used to show that it is purebred.
Grammar: Countable for a specific record; uncountable for the idea of recorded descent.
Patterns
- a dog with a pedigree
- a pedigree of something
The breeder handed us the puppy's pedigree along with its vaccination record.
A horse's pedigree can add thousands to its price.
The kennel club checks each pedigree before registering a litter.
nouncountable or uncountablefigurative
The background or history of a person, group, or thing, especially when it suggests quality or credibility.
Grammar: Usually singular and positive: a strong pedigree.
Patterns
- have a pedigree in something
- a pedigree of excellence
The chef has an impressive pedigree, having trained in three famous kitchens.
The software firm has a pedigree in secure banking systems.
Her pedigree as a researcher made the committee trust the report.
adjectivebefore a nounBritish
Descended from parents of one breed and officially recorded as such.
Grammar: Used before a noun, mostly in British English: a pedigree cat.
Patterns
- a pedigree dog
They bought a pedigree spaniel from a registered breeder.
Pedigree cattle are kept in separate herds.
He showed a pedigree terrier at the county fair.
Word forms
| plural | pedigrees |
|---|
Common combinations
- a distinguished pedigree
- The orchestra has a distinguished pedigree stretching back to the 1890s.
- trace a pedigree
- Genealogists traced the family's pedigree to a medieval knight.
- pedigree dog
- A pedigree dog is not necessarily healthier than a mixed breed.
- impressive pedigree
- The new director comes with an impressive pedigree in documentary film.
- academic pedigree
- His academic pedigree includes degrees from two top universities.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lineage
- Lineage stresses the line of descent through generations, while pedigree is also the document or the quality shown by that history.
- ancestry
- Ancestry refers to family origins in general and is less tied to breeding records than pedigree.
- background
- Background is neutral and may be good or bad, whereas pedigree nearly always suggests quality.
- provenance
- Provenance traces ownership history of an object such as a painting, where pedigree is used for living things or reputations.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: pedigree or provenance?
pedigree vs provenance
Provenance is the recorded history of where an object has been and who owned it. Pedigree is the ancestry of an animal, or a person's strong background.
Practice
The racehorse is expensive because of its ______, which traces back to several champions.
Choose one answer.
Pedigree is the recorded ancestry of an animal. The other words look similar or are unrelated: a pedestal is a base and a pedometer counts steps.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pedigree”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.