forebearer

noun

ˈfȯr-ˌber-ər How to pronounce forebearer (audio)
Definition of forebearernext
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 forebearer Our generation inherited a healthy ocean from our forebearers. — CNN, 24 Sep. 2019 Mike Brown said the digital driver license is the forebearer of discriminating against the unvaccinated. — Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Feb. 2022 Quaker Oats retired Aunt Jemima, allowing her real-life forebearer, Nancy Green, to step out of the shadows of a minstrel past. — Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2020 Chickamauga is two lakes upstream from Guntersville and other TVA lakes in Alabama, which likely means the fish or their forebearers passed through Alabama waters and that lots of them could still be there. — Frank Sargeant, al, 22 Jan. 2020 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forebearer
  1. ancestor
  2. grandfather
  3. father
Noun
  • Kean comes from a long line of public servants, stretching 250 years to the country’s founding when one of his ancestors became New Jersey’s first leader since independence.
    — Mike Catalini, Fortune, 30 June 2026
  • One of these is likely the evolutionary ancestor of all that is to come.
    — Stephen Witt, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
Definition of ancestor
Noun
  • In 1926, Brian's great-grandfather, Henry Knoebel, opened a pool that would mark the official start of the family’s park.
    — Eve Chen, USA Today, 3 July 2026
  • The supplies will be taken to Miami and then Venezuela by Olarte Transport, said volunteer Andrea Casanova, 28, whose grandfather was in Venezuela when the earthquakes struck.
    — Melody Xu, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2026
Definition of grandfather
Noun
  • The news of the arrest caught the attention of the family of Amy McHale, a woman who was once married to Horsch’s father and disappeared nearly 10 years ago.
    — Danny Freeman, CNN Money, 1 July 2026
  • Her oldest sister, Sonia Gonzalez, said Gonzalez reminds her a lot of their father, who reinvented himself many times over the years.
    — Lisa Boone, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
Definition of father

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Cite this Entry

“Forebearer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forebearer. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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