Word.ws English Dictionary

forefathers

UK/ˈfɔːˌfɑːðəz//ˈfɔɹˌfɑːðɚz/

forefathers is the plural of forefather.

Meaning of forefather

Noun

forefather (plural forefathers)

  1. An ancestor.
    • His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; an only brother at Montauk Point having sickened in the...1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  2. A cultural ancestor; one who originated an idea or tradition.

Questions about forefathers

What is forefathers the plural of?
Forefathers is the plural of forefather.
How do you pronounce forefathers?
Forefathers is pronounced /ˈfɔːˌfɑːðəz/ (UK).

Words near forefathers in the dictionary

  1. forefaces
  2. forefall
  3. forefalls
  4. forefather
  5. forefatherly
  6. forefathers
  7. Forefathers' Day
  8. forefeast
  9. forefeasts
  10. forefeel
  11. forefeeling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: forefathers (page history and authors); forefather (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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