Forebear (also spelled, less commonly, as forbear) was first used by our ancestors in the days of Middle English. Fore- means "coming before," just as in forefather, and -bear means "one that is." This -bear is not to be confused with the -bear in the unrelated verb forbear, which comes from Old English beran, meaning "to bear or carry." The -bear in the noun forebear is a combination of be-, from the verb be (or, more specifically, from been, an old dialect variant of be), and -ar, a form of the suffix -er, which we append to verbs to denote one that performs a specified action. In this case the "action" is simply existing or being—in other words, -bear implies one who is a "be-er."
His forebears fought in the American Civil War.
his forebears came to America on the Mayflower
Recent Examples on the WebThese new-school omakase restaurants have two big things in common with many of their forebears: high prices and limited seating.—Brett Anderson, New York Times, 21 May 2024 Some 360 miles southeast of Rome, in the Baroque city of Lecce in Puglia, Gianna Greco, 57, still does her family’s Sunday lunch at home and still does it the way her forebears did.—Frank Bruni Laura May Todd, New York Times, 13 May 2024 In the way of his forebears, Mr. Gibson uses beads sourced from all over the world, including vintage beads from Japan and China, and glass beads from the Venetian island of Murano.—Colleen Barry, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Apr. 2024 Piercing through the series’ intense black-and-white palette, the Irish actor delivers a Ripley that is, at least according to the star, more relatable than his cinematic forebears.—Elaina Patton, NBC News, 4 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for forebear
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'forebear.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English (Scots), from fore- + -bear (from been to be)
Share