line of descent
Noun
Meaning
the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors
the descendants of one individual
Source: WordNetSynonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Examples
Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent.
his entire lineage has been warriors
But many of those individuals were the product of complex ethnic intermarriage in America and elsewhere, complicating the idea of a single line of descent.
In this manner, all BTW's can trace a direct line of descent all the way back to Gardner.
Lionel had been the eldest son of Edward III to leave a surviving line of descent; by modern standards, his line had an indisputably superior claim over that of his younger brother John of Gaunt.
It also sheds light on human evolution; for example, analysis of variation in the human mitochondrial genome has led to the postulation of a recent common ancestor for all humans on the maternal line of descent (see Mitochondrial Eve ).