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His forebears fought in the American Civil War.
his forebears came to America on the Mayflower
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.
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."
First Known Use: 15th century
in the meaning defined above
See Words from the same yearancestor, father, forebearer, forefather, grandfather, primogenitor, progenitor;
descendant (also descendent);
: a member of your family in the past
See words that rhyme with forebear Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for forebear Spanish Central: Translation of forebear Nglish: Translation of forebear for Spanish speakers
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