former
32
1.3
- adjective
- /ˈfɔrmər/
:
primero
- Hey, everybody, we're here with the author of a sacred oath, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
- former and latter
- in the former case
- especially the former
Examples
-
I disagree with the former and I agree with the latter.
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Consider your former self, a caterpillar.
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Now, I happen to think it's the former.
-
While we analyze both Jewish and Arab politics, our main focus here is on the former.
Academic text (2017) -
It's usually a former classmate or former colleague.
-
Besides, if I had to choose between having sophisticated children and ones that were merely docile, I should choose the former.
-
In the former United States, civil war continues to devastate the Midwest.
-
The fish shot around above the passengers' heads, tacking nervously until it settled into its former circular route.
Fiction book (1998) -
My former boss recommended me for the new job, and I am grateful for his support.
-
She met her former classmates at the reunion, reminiscing about their school days.
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
1
7.1
A person or thing that is much weaker and less impressive than before
Compounds
- NSFW
A Rwandan rebel group that fought to overthrow the Tutsi government and restore Hutu rule
Surface Forms
Morphology
former = (opaque) = fore + er
Historically this is built from 'fore' + '-er', but the modern sense of 'the first of two mentioned' is lexicalized and not directly compositional. [Postprocessing: moved 'fore' from base_words to prefix]
Etymology
Former originally meant 'first', much like the common word first, so when you say the 'former' of two things you mean the one that came first. That's why former points to the earlier choice in a pair.