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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
K. R. Callaway, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
However, teens and twentysomethings today are of a very different demographic and have markedly different media consumption habits compared to Wikipedia’s forebears.
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Jan. 2026
His claim motivated a phalanx of AIDS deniers, the forebears of the anti-vaccine militants today.
—Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 29 Jan. 2026
But Wallace, alert to the sexism of his forebears and eager to demonstrate his own feminism, once sounded a lot like Lockwood.
—Hermione Hoby, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 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 13 Feb. 2026.
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