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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
Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 26 Mar. 2026
The Seder provides many different ways to engage with the language, often alongside older generations who acquired varying degrees of proficiency from their forebears.
—Bryan Kirschen, The Conversation, 25 Mar. 2026
Steinmuller followed his forebears into the shipping industry.
—Eric Boodman, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2026
That was how so many of their forebears settled here, having survived slavery and Jim Crow, working land some of the families own to this day.
—Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for forebear
Cite this Entry
“Forebear.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forebear. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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