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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."
Examples of forebear in a Sentence
Ian Frazier, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
In this thoughtful, cautionary tale, the longtime New Yorker magazine staff writer reports on how three generations of his forebears, beginning with his great-grandfather, revolutionized vegetable farming and the frozen food business in southwestern New Jersey.
—Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor, 3 June 2025
That family in the $20 million carriage house had been there for generations, having inherited their wealth from forebears who made their fortune in pest control, leaving flypaper impregnated with arsenic around for Freya to store and use for her own purposes.
—Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2025
The relentless pursuit of shad: Each spring, one family and a group of volunteers haul the bony, oily fish from the Delaware River in a seasonal ritual that honors their forebears.
—James Barron, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for forebear
Cite this Entry
“Forebear.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forebear. Accessed 16 Jun. 2025.
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