great-grandfather

My great-grandfather tells stories in his favorite armchair.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A person's grandfather's father: "great-grandfather" refers to the father of one's grandparent. It denotes a male ancestor two generations above the grandparent, or three generations above oneself.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • My great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland in the 1920s. (The father of my grandfather or grandmother.)
  • She has a photograph of her great-grandfather wearing a military uniform. (An ancestor two generations before her parents' parents.)

Advanced Usage

• "great-great-grandfather": the father of one's great-grandfather; an ancestor four generations above oneself.

  • I can trace my lineage back to my great-great-grandfather, who was a farmer in the 1800s. (A more distant male ancestor.)

• "paternal great-grandfather": the father of one's paternal grandparent (on the father's side).

  • His paternal great-grandfather was a blacksmith in a small village. (The father of his father's father or mother.)

• "maternal great-grandfather": the father of one's maternal grandparent (on the mother's side).

  • Her maternal great-grandfather was a sea captain. (The father of her mother's father or mother.)

Variants and Related Words

• Great-grandmother (n): the mother of one's grandparent.

  • My great-grandmother lived to be 100 years old. (The female ancestor two generations above the grandparent.)

• Great-grandparent (n): a grandparent's parent; either a great-grandfather or great-grandmother.

  • We visited the graves of my great-grandparents. (The parents of one's grandparents.)

• Grandfather (n): the father of one's parent.

  • My grandfather told me stories about his own father. (One generation above the parent.)

Synonyms

• Forefather: an ancestor, especially one from earlier generations.
• Ancestor: a person from whom one is descended, especially one more remote than a grandparent.

Related Idioms

• "To go back to one's great-grandfather": to refer to a very distant time or origin in family history.
  • This land has been in our family since my great-grandfather's time. (Since the era of a very early ancestor.)