forebear
/ˈfɔːˌbɛə/US/ˈfɔɹˌbɛɚ/
forebear noun: an ancestor. Also the obsolete spelling of forbear.
Noun
forebear (plural forebears)
- An ancestor.
- One day, among the days, he bethought him of this and fell lamenting for that the most part of his existence was past and he had not been vouchsafed a son, to inherit the kingdom after him, even as he had inherited it from his fathers and forebears; by reason whereof there betided him sore cark and...1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 566
- [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.
Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold […]
Also used as
forebear is also the obsolete spelling of forbear.
forebear meaning in Hindi
forebear in Hindi
- ancestor — see also ancestor
- पूर्वज pūrvaj
Examples of forebear in a sentence
- At the same time, the monotremes still pay homage to their premammalian forebears.
- But he might be the only Gen X-er who paired such ambitions with impressions of a disgraced forebear.
- And so, like all its forebears and afterbears, like everything but his present bear, the photo-exposé idea curled up and croaked.
Antonyms of forebear
Forms of forebear
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | forebears |
| alternative form | forbear |
| alternative Scotland | forebeer |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | forebears |
| present participle | forebearing |
| past | forebore |
| past participle | foreborne |
Origin of forebear
Late 15th century, from fore- + beer (“one who is or exists”, literally “be-er”).
Questions about forebear
- What does forebear mean?
- Forebear means an ancestor.
- What is forebear in Hindi?
- Forebear in Hindi is पूर्वज (pūrvaj). See Forebear meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is forebear?
- Forebear is a noun.
- How do you pronounce forebear?
- Forebear is pronounced /ˈfɔːˌbɛə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of forebear?
- The plural of forebear is forebears.
Words near forebear in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: forebear (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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