forebear
Americannoun
-
forebears
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of forebear
1425–75; Middle English (Scots), equivalent to fore- fore- + -bear “being,” variant of beer; see be, -er 1
Explanation
Your father, grandmother, and great grandfather are all your forebears. A forebear is an ancestor, or someone you are descended from. You might have thought that forebear means to stop yourself from doing something. The word you are thinking of is forbear. Confused? The "e" makes all of the difference here. Whereas the first is a noun, the second is a verb. Just remember that if you see fore like in before, it's the people who came before you.
Vocabulary lists containing forebear
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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:
Maye’s been so persuasive it’s provoking inevitable but treacherous comparisons to Brady, his carbohydrate-shunning forebear, now immortalized in 12 feet of handsome bronze outside the Foxborough gate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
Frances Dinkenspiel is an author and journalist who has written a lot about California, including the book “Towers of Gold,” about her forebear, the pioneering banker and landowner Isaias Hellman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2025
Named for its Star Trek forebear, Holodeck generates a virtually limitless range of indoor environments, using AI to interpret users' requests.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 11, 2024
At the moment, none of the new hominins is convincing as a direct forebear of Homo.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 3, 2024
She strapped her forebear to her arm, picked up Chestnutt, and joined us.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
Eva and her forebears have been working the Stóra Dímun farm for eight generations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Learning about gay rights before Stonewall: It’s LGBTQ+ history month, which means it’s a great moment to learn more about our queer forebears.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
The story has elements similar to popular summer blockbusters, but they’re so finely remixed and retooled that they don’t bear such exhausting resemblance to their forebears.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
He told Ugen he was "married to the movement" and his forebears had fought against China.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
This was what must have happened with the forebears of Mami and Baby, because they were part of a unique population that had been here when the lake was created.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
