FOREBEAR Synonyms: 36 Similar and Opposite Words

forebear

noun

ˈfȯr-ˌber

variants also forbear

as in ancestor

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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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of forebear But Wallace, alert to the sexism of his forebears and eager to demonstrate his own feminism, once sounded a lot like Lockwood. —

Hermione Hoby, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026 Unlike their forebears, however, today’s boneless couches are not high design but rather attainable furniture. —

Kristina McGuirk, Better Homes & Gardens, 25 Jan. 2026 Judged against his forebears, Hamels doesn’t measure up. —

The Athletic Mlb Staff, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2026 The Dutch — forebears of our city and exemplars of cycling culture — require fast e-bikes to be licensed and insured as mopeds. —

Sameer Butt, New York Daily News, 4 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for forebear

Recent Examples of Synonyms for forebear

Noun

But now, a series of tea parties with an ape named Kanzi suggests some of our closest ancestors may have this ability too.

— Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 11 Feb. 2026
The findings also suggest that herbivory evolved independently in several different groups of early land vertebrates, not just in the ancestors of modern reptiles.

— Lily Hautau, CNN Money, 11 Feb. 2026