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
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
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
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
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
Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 17 Apr. 2023
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
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
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
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Her ancestor’s analytic model discouraged self-revelation by the therapist, but Freud often meets her guests’ excavations of desire and vulnerability with her own candid recollections.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
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In Rea Rasmussen's case, the process took 18 months and required building genealogical connections back to ancestors born in the 1780s.—
Adeola Adeosun,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
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La Luz del Mundo was founded by Joaquin's grandfather, Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez, in 1926 and was later led by Joaquin's father, Samuel Joaquin Flores.—
Luc Cohen,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
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This is not your father’s or grandfather’s Atherton High School football program, and never was that more evident than Tuesday’s practice at the school.—
Rich Barak,
Louisville Courier Journal,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Celebrating the assassination of a 31 year old father of two young kids is disturbing; that teachers would be among those who do so is completely unacceptable.—
Amy DeLaura,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
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His father, a hard-working Russian immigrant and patriotic US bomber pilot, taught him to respect authority.—
Martine Paris,
Forbes.com,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Forebearer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forebearer. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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