as in grandmother
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Recent Examples of foremother
No one emerges at the end of the book as entirely good or bad (save, perhaps, for Busia, Regan’s culinary foremother).
—
Makana Eyre, Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2023
In a year when avant-pop stars such as Rosalía thrilled with volcanic vocals and cybernetic beats, their foremother dug in yet-stranger soil.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 15 Dec. 2022
Taking inspiration from her literary foremother Zora Neale Hurston, Walker centers southern Black women, who are all too often misrepresented in American culture.
—Usa Today Staff, USA TODAY, 27 Sep. 2021
The Houston exhibit, conceived by White and co-curator Jill Dawsey, explores Saint Phalle’s avant-garde status and how her resistance establishes her as a foremother of such contemporary artists as Tschabalala Self, Katie Stout, and Rachel Feinstein.
—Amarie Gipson, Town & Country, 4 Sep. 2021
See All Example Sentences for foremother
Makana Eyre, Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2023
In a year when avant-pop stars such as Rosalía thrilled with volcanic vocals and cybernetic beats, their foremother dug in yet-stranger soil.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 15 Dec. 2022
Taking inspiration from her literary foremother Zora Neale Hurston, Walker centers southern Black women, who are all too often misrepresented in American culture.
—Usa Today Staff, USA TODAY, 27 Sep. 2021
The Houston exhibit, conceived by White and co-curator Jill Dawsey, explores Saint Phalle’s avant-garde status and how her resistance establishes her as a foremother of such contemporary artists as Tschabalala Self, Katie Stout, and Rachel Feinstein.
—Amarie Gipson, Town & Country, 4 Sep. 2021
See All Example Sentences for foremother
Recent Examples of Synonyms for foremother
Noun
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Owner Khailing Neoh, a first-generation Chinese American, draws from family recipes—many inspired by her grandmother.—
Karla Walsh,
Travel + Leisure,
22 Feb. 2026
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Katy Banks can trace her flourishing Arlington, Virginia garden of over 400 rosebushes back to a single bucket of blooms that was a gift from her grandmother, who was the first in her family’s three generations of rose growers.—
Symiah Dorsey,
Southern Living,
22 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Meanwhile, Alice, Dana’s ancestress, never becomes much more than a moral quandary: a stubborn victim who is unable to adapt.—
Julian Lucas,
The New Yorker,
8 Mar. 2021
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Yang Asha is the mythical ancestress of the Miao people, an ethnic minority in China closely related to the Hmong of Southeast Asia.—
Keith Bradsher,
New York Times,
26 Nov. 2020
Noun
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Forty Acres Fresh Market introduces an impressive, tiny but mighty, hot bar with Mabel’s Meals, honoring a family matriarch and casual culinary culture in Chicago.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Feb. 2026
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Family matriarch Chanchaisri, now retired and a devoted volunteer at the Buddhist Temple of Dallas, looks back on her decades as a pioneer of Thai food in Dallas and Richardson.—
Sarah Blaskovich,
Dallas Morning News,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
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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
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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
Noun
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Regardless of meaning, the markings should put these Stone Age human ancestors in a different light.—
Jacopo Prisco,
CNN Money,
25 Feb. 2026
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Private is the mystery incandescence of her nacre, coveting which the likes of us killed her ancestors to make buttons, souvenirs, entire garments for ritual dancers who sought to banish their demons with her magical inner light.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Foremother.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/foremother. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.
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