Agnate

//ˈæɡneɪt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A relative whose relation is traced only through male members of the family.

    "A great-grandfather is an agnate if he is your father’s father’s father."

  2. 2
    one related on the father's side wordnet
  3. 3
    Any paternal male relative.
  4. 4
    A statement having a similar meaning to another, but a different structure.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Related to someone by male connections or on the paternal side of the family.
  2. 2
    allied; akin

    "Assume more or less of a fictitious character, but congenial and agnate […] with the former."

  3. 3
    Having a similar semantic meaning.

    "[...] we can talk about a swim, a drink, a look, even though swim, drink and look can also show up as verbs in agnate clauses."

Adjective
  1. 1
    related on the father's side wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
agnaticaffiliatedaffinalaffinitiveagnaticagnatic

Antonyms

All antonyms
enate

Example

More examples

"A great-grandfather is an agnate if he is your father’s father’s father."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin agnātus (“paternal kinsman”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.