forebear

== English == === Etymology 1 === Late 15th century, from fore- +‎ beer (“one who is or exists”, literally “be-er”). ==== Pronunciation ==== (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɔːˌbɛə/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɔɹˌbɛɚ/ ==== Noun ==== forebear (plural forebears) An ancestor. Hypernym: predecessor [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr. Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold […] [1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia [1] One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group. ===== Usage notes ===== Not to be confused with the verb forbear (“to hold back, restrain, decline, refuse”). ===== Alternative forms ===== forbear forebeer (Scotland) ===== Antonyms ===== afterbear ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === ==== Verb ==== forebear (third-person singular simple present forebears, present participle forebearing, simple past forebore, past participle foreborne) Obsolete spelling of forbear. === References === “forebear”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. === Anagrams === forbeare