forebear

noun

fore·​bear ˈfȯr-ˌber 

variants or less commonly forbear

: ancestor, forefather

also : precursor

—usually used in plural

His forebears fought in the American Civil War.

Did you know?

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."

Synonyms

• ancestor
• father
• forebearer
• forefather
• grandfather
• primogenitor
• progenitor

Examples of forebear in a Sentence

His forebears fought in the American Civil War.

his forebears came to America on the Mayflower

Recent Examples on the Web

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

Word History

Etymology

Middle English (Scots), from fore- + -bear (from been to be)

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

forebear

noun

fore·​bear

variants also forbear

ˈfōr-ˌba(ə)r,

ˈfȯr-,

-ˌbe(ə)r

: ancestor sense 1, forefather