variants
also forbears
as in ancestors
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of forebears
McNair spoke, unsuccessfully, before an Alabama Legislature that wanted to limit how schools teach events, such as the bombing that killed her sister, lest White children feel guilt for the sins of their forebears.
—
John Archibald, Southern Living, 16 Mar. 2026
But new research suggests that our forbears had more varied and cosmopolitan tastes, centuries before the Guide Michelin.
—Scott Simon, NPR, 14 Mar. 2026
The tournament, held every few years as a joint production between MLB and the MLB Players Association, allows players to represent, not the city that hired them, but the home that raised them or their forebears.
—Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 11 Mar. 2026
By inhabiting the same aesthetic ideals that the poètes maudits did, which were both inspirational for and infused within the punk movement, Hell manages to gesture at the sense of transcendence which fuelled his nineteenth-century forebears.
—Taran Dugal, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
In one reading, Louise’s terrorist arc is a refreshing subversion of the political correctness of Cash’s millennial forebears, the Patricia Lockwoods and Sally Rooneys and Sheila Hetis of the world, who might never dream of straying from their lane of lived experience.
—Malavika Kannan, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2026
Infiniti’s look called to mind two legendary forebears.
—Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 1 Mar. 2026
Another camp speculates that these forebears met human nomads on the trail of big game and started traveling with them, eventually arriving in China via Mongolia through their supporting role as war dogs.
—Andrew Norman Wilson, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
God willing, this legal reckoning will come before Republicans descend into barbarism on the scale of their ideological forebears.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 24 Feb. 2026
John Archibald, Southern Living, 16 Mar. 2026
But new research suggests that our forbears had more varied and cosmopolitan tastes, centuries before the Guide Michelin.
—Scott Simon, NPR, 14 Mar. 2026
The tournament, held every few years as a joint production between MLB and the MLB Players Association, allows players to represent, not the city that hired them, but the home that raised them or their forebears.
—Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 11 Mar. 2026
By inhabiting the same aesthetic ideals that the poètes maudits did, which were both inspirational for and infused within the punk movement, Hell manages to gesture at the sense of transcendence which fuelled his nineteenth-century forebears.
—Taran Dugal, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
In one reading, Louise’s terrorist arc is a refreshing subversion of the political correctness of Cash’s millennial forebears, the Patricia Lockwoods and Sally Rooneys and Sheila Hetis of the world, who might never dream of straying from their lane of lived experience.
—Malavika Kannan, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2026
Infiniti’s look called to mind two legendary forebears.
—Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 1 Mar. 2026
Another camp speculates that these forebears met human nomads on the trail of big game and started traveling with them, eventually arriving in China via Mongolia through their supporting role as war dogs.
—Andrew Norman Wilson, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
God willing, this legal reckoning will come before Republicans descend into barbarism on the scale of their ideological forebears.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 24 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forebears
Noun
-
Our ancient ancestors loved their birch tar.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
18 Mar. 2026
-
Local historians in Wyandotte County have long documented the arduous journeys that their ancestors, and those of many Kansas City, Kansas residents, made to find freedom from slavery.—
Sofi Zeman,
Kansas City Star,
15 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Robert Pelot, the owner of Pelot’s Rexall Pharmacy, said it’s been in his family since one of his great-grandfathers moved to the Bradenton area from Indiana in the late 1800s.—
Amaia Gavica,
Miami Herald,
6 Mar. 2026
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Is this the noble cause that our grandfathers would have shed their blood for 85 years ago?—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Dressed in white ballgowns and escorted by their mothers and either their fathers or uncles, each Ticktocker was given a moment on stage to be honored with a brief bio and a slideshow of special moments in their lives.—
News Release,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 Mar. 2026
-
More responders as well as the climbers’ fathers, who’d driven up from the North Bay, were waiting in the trailhead parking lot.—
Gregory Thomas,
San Francisco Chronicle,
14 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Forebears.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forebears. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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