forbear

Examples

• All

• It's been a long and arduous struggle, but in honor of our forbears, we've done it!

  Blog text (15)

• Like her forbears and unlike her, I'm an emigrant.

  Fiction book (1999)

• You and your forbears help build this nation.

  Reagan (2024)

• You and your forbears built our nation, now help us rebuild it.

  Reagan (2024)

• "Evergreen is not about my family, but in a sense it's about every family whose forbears came to this country looking for a better life, leaving troubles of one sort or another behind.

  Academic text (1998)

• In the second of the two articles, he insists that younger generations are indeed co-responsible for the deeds of their forbears.

  Academic text (2005)

• The stories these Native Americans told of its history imply chunkey was significant to their Cahokian forbears.

  Academic text (2009)

• I'm constantly in awe of the ability of our forbears to mount mass movements and rallies compared to today, when the population is five times what it was then.

  Academic text (2004)

• The traditions of my forbears have greatly influenced how we celebrate the holidays today.

• I often research my forbears to learn about their lives and the challenges they faced.

Synonyms

A

ancestor

vsforbear

419 2.4

A person in your family who lived long ago before your grandparents

is the general family term without specifying generational distance

F

forefather

vsforbear

35 5.1

A person from older generations who helped start your family or its traditions

is a plain family member term without founder importance

P

progenitor

vsforbear

12 8.2

An early ancestor who starts a family line or idea

is the family term without implying originator status

F

forebear

vsforbear

12 8.1

A person in your family who lived long ago

is the common family term without stressing pastness

F

forbearer

vsforbear

1 7.9

A person in your family who lived many generations before you

is the general family term not limited to direct descent

F

foreparent

vsforbear

1 9.3

A person in your family from long ago, like a grandparent

is the family term used for human generations not species origins

P

progenitive

vsforbear

• Archaic

9.9

A person in your family from an earlier time, for example a parent

is the everyday family term without archaic literary tone

P

primogenitor

vsforbear

• Formal

9.9

An early relative in the direct family line, like a great-grandparent

is the family term not limited to the earliest known member

Surface Forms

Etymology