variants
also forbear
as in ancestor
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent
his forebears came to America on the Mayflower
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Recent Examples of forebear
For someone like Eli, then, projecting movie-star-like virility and vigor was an exercise in social advancement, in distancing himself from his babushka forebears’ grim reality.
—
David Kamp, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
Our forebears turned orchards into neighborhoods that welcomed us.
—Belal Aftab, Mercury News, 30 Sep. 2025
As the sun has grown subtly brighter over this span, if this supercontinent struggled with high carbon dioxide levels like its Pangaean forebear did, then this would be an inimically hot world to animals, except for lone refuges fringing its polar far reaches.
—Peter Brannen, Quanta Magazine, 15 Sep. 2025
The album only passingly cares about the signature dance-pop gunk of its 2010s and ’20s peers and forebears and doesn’t (like songs by Gomez, Addison Rae, and others) spend much time exploring Lana Del Rey as a subgenre.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for forebear
David Kamp, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
Our forebears turned orchards into neighborhoods that welcomed us.
—Belal Aftab, Mercury News, 30 Sep. 2025
As the sun has grown subtly brighter over this span, if this supercontinent struggled with high carbon dioxide levels like its Pangaean forebear did, then this would be an inimically hot world to animals, except for lone refuges fringing its polar far reaches.
—Peter Brannen, Quanta Magazine, 15 Sep. 2025
The album only passingly cares about the signature dance-pop gunk of its 2010s and ’20s peers and forebears and doesn’t (like songs by Gomez, Addison Rae, and others) spend much time exploring Lana Del Rey as a subgenre.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for forebear
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forebear
Noun
-
The ancestors were taken from the Riverside Cemetery site near the Menominee River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula between 1961 and 1963 during a joint excavation led by anthropologists Robert Retzenthaler for the Milwaukee Public Museum and Robert Hrushka for the Oshkosh Public Museum.—
Frank Vaisvilas,
jsonline.com,
27 Oct. 2025
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Furthermore, the analyses consistently position the new species as an ancestor of the entire dyrosaurid group.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The topic of nepotism came up in a new interview with Skarsgård in Vulture, when the outlet pointed out that many of his eight children — including Bill, Alexander, and Gustaf — have become actors like their father.—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
24 Oct. 2025
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Unless another boy was injured, a boy with a father who resembled me.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Smith and Christian’s respective grandfathers were their catalysts into vintage fashion.—
Angela Velasquez,
Sourcing Journal,
24 Oct. 2025
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After his mother’s death, he was sent to study Urdu and Islamic calligraphy at his grandfather’s madrassa in Sidhpur, Gujarat.—
Oscar Holland,
CNN Money,
24 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Forebear.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forebear. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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