foster father

American  

noun

1. a man who takes the place of a father in raising a child.

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foster father British  

noun

1. a man who looks after or brings up a child or children as a father, in place of the natural or adoptive father

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Etymology

Origin of foster father

before 900; Middle English; Old English

Example Sentences

After reconciling with his foster father, he reported for duty on July 1, 1830, at the military academy overlooking the Hudson River.

From Washington Post • Jan. 19, 2023

His foster father, who was Scottish, longed for his homeland, and at night tears came to his eyes as he sang ballads around the family’s organ.

From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2022

Rose is on a mission to find her missing brother, currently held as a prisoner by a cartoonishly evil foster father.

From The Verge • Aug. 5, 2022

“He started freaking out and then ran off on me again,” the foster father told police.

From Seattle Times • May 13, 2022

Though he was raised by an impoverished working-class couple—his foster father was a glazier—it turns out that his birth father was a general and his mother was an aristocrat.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife