forebear

noun fore·bear \ ˈfȯr-ˌber \

variants: or less commonly forbear

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Examples: forebear in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of forebear

: ancestor, forefather; also : precursor —usually used in plural

His forebears fought in the American Civil War.

See forebear defined for English-language learners

See forebear defined for kids

forebear was our Word of the Day on 06/17/2011. Hear the podcast!

Examples of forebear in a Sentence

His forebears fought in the American Civil War.
his forebears came to America on the Mayflower

Recent Examples of forebear from the Web

But Katz did it, which wouldn't surprise his deli forebears not a bit.

— greg morago, Houston Chronicle, "First look: The redesigned Katz’s deli," 1 May 2018
That modern cars can outperform their forebears isn’t exactly news.

— Washington Post, "Edmunds: Muscle cars that pack a punch," 25 Apr. 2018
But a troubling string of clinical trial results suggests that the latest approach to the devastating disease might go the way of its forebears, continuing decades of frustration for patients and scientists.

— damian garde, STAT, "Series of setbacks raises doubt on the drug industry’s next big idea to treat Alzheimer’s," 23 May 2018
Rock’s current establishment is more conscious than any other of music’s underrecognized forebears — namely of unsung blues and R&B artists.

— New York Times, "12 Pop, Rock and Jazz Concerts to Check Out in N.Y.C. This Weekend," 17 May 2018
Including a snippet of a rare Grandmaster Flash sequence as part of this background, Cuchna links Ocean’s form to its conceptual forebears.

— hannah giorgis, The Atlantic, "Is It Futile to 'Dissect' Frank Ocean's Work?," 17 May 2018
That modern cars can outperform their forebears isn't exactly news.

— brent romans, edmunds, USA TODAY, "Camaro, Challenger, Mustang: Muscle cars that pack a performance punch," 27 Apr. 2018
On his debut as a bandleader, 2016’s Stranger Days (Sunnyside), Adam eschews any connection to the lineage carved out by his forebears, pursuing a limber but sharply articulated strain of free bop that sparkles with erudition, soul, and precision.

— peter margasak, Chicago Reader, "Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill pivots away from his family’s musical legacy toward dazzling postbop sounds," 23 Feb. 2018
The women have little to go on so far beyond the information their forebears relied on nine decades ago.

— Washington Post, "Where’s Capt. Molly? Search on for Revolutionary hero grave," 29 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'forebear.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Forebear (also sometimes spelled "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" (not to be confused with the "-bear" in the unrelated verb "forbear," which comes from Old English beran, meaning "to bear or carry"). The "be-" of "-bear" is from the verb "to be" (or, more specifically, from "been," an old dialect variant of "be"). The "-ar" is 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."