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:
That forebear was a 1961 pop-up where the artist made and sold his own rough-hewn goods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
But the sitcom’s true progenitor is “The Golden Girls,” which is also the spiritual forebear to “Sex and the City.”
From Salon ● May 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
“Get on the forebear before you embarrass yourself further.”
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
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
While these insolent young men live in a medieval fantasy world of flying beasts, they reflect a very modern obsession with a younger generation that can’t live up to the precedent set by their forebears.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
He was not wrong, Jon Connington reflected, leaning on the battlements of his forebears.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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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.
