as in ancestor
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent
villagers who still practice many of the customs of their forebearers
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Recent Examples of forebearer
Like its classic-rock forebearer Desert Trip, the concert will bring two acts per night to Indio’s Empire Polo Club, on the weekend of Oct. 6-8.
—
August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2023
After leaving Alabama, Avinger served a year in the U.S. Army, then signed for a season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Western Interprovincial Football Union, one of the forebearers of the Canadian Football League.
—Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 17 Apr. 2023
Mike Brown said the digital driver license is the forebearer of discriminating against the unvaccinated.
—Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Feb. 2022
If successful, The Mayflower Autonomous Ship, named in honor of its famous nautical forebearer and known as MAS for short, will be the first such trans-Atlantic voyage by an autonomous vessel.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2021
Quaker Oats retired Aunt Jemima, allowing her real-life forebearer, Nancy Green, to step out of the shadows of a minstrel past.
—Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2020
Chickamauga is two lakes upstream from Guntersville and other TVA lakes in Alabama, which likely means the fish or their forebearers passed through Alabama waters and that lots of them could still be there.
—Frank Sargeant, al, 22 Jan. 2020
Our generation inherited a healthy ocean from our forebearers.
—CNN, 24 Sep. 2019
Many of our forebearers, including my great-grandfather, were undocumented immigrants, no different from Central American migrants today.
—Aaron Freedman, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2019
August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2023
After leaving Alabama, Avinger served a year in the U.S. Army, then signed for a season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Western Interprovincial Football Union, one of the forebearers of the Canadian Football League.
—Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 17 Apr. 2023
Mike Brown said the digital driver license is the forebearer of discriminating against the unvaccinated.
—Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Feb. 2022
If successful, The Mayflower Autonomous Ship, named in honor of its famous nautical forebearer and known as MAS for short, will be the first such trans-Atlantic voyage by an autonomous vessel.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2021
Quaker Oats retired Aunt Jemima, allowing her real-life forebearer, Nancy Green, to step out of the shadows of a minstrel past.
—Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2020
Chickamauga is two lakes upstream from Guntersville and other TVA lakes in Alabama, which likely means the fish or their forebearers passed through Alabama waters and that lots of them could still be there.
—Frank Sargeant, al, 22 Jan. 2020
Our generation inherited a healthy ocean from our forebearers.
—CNN, 24 Sep. 2019
Many of our forebearers, including my great-grandfather, were undocumented immigrants, no different from Central American migrants today.
—Aaron Freedman, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forebearer
Noun
-
As Charles Handy explained in The Age of Paradox, modern life forces us to navigate complexities our ancestors never faced, such as the tension between efficiency and humanity or between individual freedom and collective responsibility.—
Shane Enete,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
-
As a pack animal closely aligned with their wolf ancestor, the breed would use these noises to communicate with the rest of the pack and with humans, according to the American Kennel Club (AKC).—
Rachael O'Connor,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 June 2025
Noun
-
Roley's grandfather, Dale Roley, told the New York Times on Monday that the suspect was working for a tree company and had expressed interest in becoming a forest firefighter.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
1 July 2025
-
The latest is that the 21-year-old’s grandfather, the bullfighter Manuel Torres-Cansino, was a cousin of the American actress Margarita Carmen Cansino, commonly known as Rita Hayworth.—
Mario Cortegana,
New York Times,
29 June 2025
Noun
-
In the future, Lisa serves as commissioner of the NBA, and Bart runs a retirement home where their widowed father Homer resides.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
26 June 2025
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But in her 20s, Mariska became aware, independently, that her biological father was an Italian nightclub entertainer named Nelson Sardelli.—
Robert Lloyd,
Los Angeles Times,
26 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Forebearer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forebearer. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
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