forefathers

noun

plural of forefather
as in ancestors
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent our forefathers bought this farm, and our family has worked it for three generations

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of forefathers But the truth is that our forefathers were sufficiently individualistic to be iconoclastic. — Colin Fleming, New York Daily News, 4 July 2026 Our economic systems are not serving the people who live here, whose forefathers established this new republic, and our grandparents actualized the peak of its success. — Linh Tat, Oc Register, 4 May 2026 Moritz Grossmann was one of the forefathers of German watchmaking in Glashütte. — Victoria Gomelsky, Robb Report, 30 Mar. 2026 The clubs, civic organizations and community events that once brought our forefathers together are largely fading away. — Judith Martin, Dallas Morning News, 10 Mar. 2026 The Nuggets forefathers witnessed him before the rest of Denver, as if it was meant to be that Jamal Murray would become one of them. — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 15 Feb. 2026 Yet, without ceasing, another generation of Puerto Ricans pick up the mantle to chant in the streets and fight for their country, out of love for their forefathers and foremothers. — Taylor Crumpton, Time, 10 Feb. 2026 Our forefathers fought the American Revolution to get away from a tyrannical monarch and indifferent legislators, not to create our own homegrown version of it. — Chicago Tribune, 5 Jan. 2026 The Philadelphia Art Museum, the National Constitution Center, the Museum of the American Revolution, and smaller outfits like Eastern State Penitentiary and Historic Germantown will, as expected, reimagine the history of our republic in an homage to the forefathers’ ingenuity. — Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 5 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forefathers
  1. ancestors
  2. grandfathers
  3. fathers
Noun
  • The changes would have affected the environments in which life developed and evolved, from the age of the dinosaurs through to some of our oldest primate ancestors.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 13 Oct. 2026
  • In his view, Flagg Mountain’s fire-scarred stumps corroborate what his community already knew—that their ancestors used fire for centuries—and reinforce their sense of responsibility to care for the land.
    — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of ancestors
Noun
  • His grandfathers are former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and Tom Curtis, an All-America defensive back for the Wolverines, and his brother is Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Nearly a century after his great-grandfathers played college football, USC freshman defensive lineman Luke Wafle is emerging as a generational talent.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of grandfathers
Noun
  • Those girls in the hothouses maintained by fathers and uncles certainly would not spare a single thought for Percherette.
    — Yiyun Li, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Nearly every player on the team is a dad, with seemingly a few players becoming first-time fathers each of the past few seasons.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of fathers

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forefather
forefathers
forefeel
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Cite this Entry

“Forefathers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forefathers. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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