- a variation of forebear.
forbear
Americanverb (used with object)
-
forbears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forbore,
past
-
forborne,
past participle
-
forbearing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
forbears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forbore,
past
-
forborne,
past participle
-
forbearing
present participle
-
to refrain; hold back.
-
to be patient or self-controlled when subject to annoyance or provocation.
verb
-
to cease or refrain (from doing something)
-
archaic to tolerate or endure (misbehaviour, mistakes, etc)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
forbearernoun
-
nonforbearingadjective
-
unforbearingadjective
-
forbearinglyadverb
-
nonforbearinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
forbearsimple
-
forbearssimple
-
have forborneperfect
-
has forborneperfect
-
am forbearingprogressive
-
are forbearingprogressive
-
is forbearingprogressive
-
have been forbearingperfect progressive
-
has been forbearingperfect progressive
Past
-
forboresimple
-
had forborneperfect
-
was forbearingprogressive
-
were forbearingprogressive
-
had been forbearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of forbear
First recorded before 900; Middle English forberen, Old English forberan “to refrain from, abstain; spare, excuse”; see origin at for-, bear 1
Explanation
When you forbear, you hold yourself back from doing something. If you're mad at your best friend, you might forbear to return her text messages for a while. If you forbear to giggle during your teacher's stern lecture, that's a good thing. You keep yourself from laughing out loud, even though that's instinctively what you want to do. The Old English root, forberan, means "control one's feelings, or tolerate." A less common way to use forbear is as a noun meaning "ancestor." So if you're refraining from reading about your ancestors, you can say you forbear to learn about your forbears.
Vocabulary lists containing forbear
Romeo and Juliet
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Grade 11, List 6
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Hobbit
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If the real Queen Charlotte could claim any African cultural lineage, it would have come from a distant Portuguese forbear.
From Salon ● May 6, 2023
Three decades ago, Likud, then a more traditional conservative party, shunned Mr. Ben-Gvir’s ideological forbear, Meir Kahane, for being too extreme.
From New York Times ● Oct. 24, 2022
"Frankly I do not myself feel at all like my great Tudor forbear."
From Reuters ● Feb. 3, 2022
Respondent argues that there is no immediate threat of future harm, because he has and will continue to exercise personal discipline to forbear from discussing these matters in public anymore.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2021
I could not forbear to notice that none offered my company any plan.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Following the trail of these minuscule treasures back in time, Mr. de Waal traced the history of his forbears among the Ephrussis, a Jewish banking family that grew prosperous in the 19th century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
In a flashback, Lucia explains to Amelia that her forbears were Spanish and Apache, making the young woman’s English heritage a challenge to the status quo.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
But for all its forbears, this spooky-ooky 1989-set romance has a thoroughly modern sensibility, and it’s about to be the new obsession of quirky teens everywhere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
According to the British Museum, the Asantehene requested a loan of items of regalia belonging to his forbears.
From BBC ● May 16, 2023
Like their forbears, they do their best to survive, even thrive—against all odds.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
He forbore to attack Lyndon Johnson on Viet Nam in 1968, he said, because he feared that he might jeopardize the fledgling negotiations in Paris.
From Time Magazine Archive
These statesmen forbore going to court in part because they doubted the courts would, or should, be open to them.
From Time Magazine Archive
According to Senor Calles, he forbore to act in the hope that the plotters would renounce their treasonable intentions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Suppose the banker put away the check as a weapon, and forbore arresting the clerk because obviously he was clever and had inside information on the market operations of high officials.
From Time Magazine Archive
Out of delicacy, he forbore to tell her that Boots was no longer exactly male.
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
“Servicers are required to offer deferral of the forborne payments to the end of the loan as the default option,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
At Berlin General von Cramon scored the French for bombarding Damascus; told how Feldmarschall von der Goltz had forborne to shell Antwerp Cathedral during the obliterating German bombardments of Rheims, Verdun, Amiens, etc.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had forborne, hoping others would forbear, and they had not.
From Time Magazine Archive
New York's Mayor Lindsay has wisely forborne forcing the issue with protesters harmlessly occupying a state building site in Harlem.
From Time Magazine Archive
They had forborne to mention this, but it forced itself upon them.
From The Heritage of the Kurts, Volume II (of 2) by Bj?rnstjerne Bj?rnson
“You know, their story is quite similar to how women in England weren’t allowed to play football for years,” observed Higgins, netting a doubtful reaction from the museum’s forbearing docent.
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026
She is, it seems, the forbearing Diana to the Charles-and-Camilla act of Jack and Mary.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 8, 2022
Yet I thought that I saw a sadness in his eyes, which—despite all his forbearing elegance—told a story, and I knew, if not how, that his life was somehow tied to the Task.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 3, 2019
Mr. Finlayson is a thoughtful young trumpeter with a distinctive, forbearing voice as an improviser and a composer.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2018
They were kind and sweet to Darling; they were forbearing and patient with one another.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
