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Forebear (also spelled, less commonly, as forbear) was first used by our ancestors in the days of Middle English. Fore- means "coming before," just as in forefather, and -bear means "one that is." This -bear is not to be confused with the -bear in the unrelated verb forbear, which comes from Old English beran, meaning "to bear or carry." The -bear in the noun forebear is a combination of be-, from the verb be (or, more specifically, from been, an old dialect variant of be), and -ar, a form of the suffix -er, which we append to verbs to denote one that performs a specified action. In this case the "action" is simply existing or being—in other words, -bear implies one who is a "be-er."
Examples of forebear in a Sentence
Chris Willman, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
Curry & Paxton has kept the design philosophy from its forebears alive with a limited set of options in traditional colorways.
—Brett F. Braley-Palko, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
But he’s arguably made this template pay off even better than his forebears.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2025
The country’s new leaders could learn from the mistakes of their Islamist forebears and avoid a system of government with slim chances of success.
—Marwan Muasher, Foreign Affairs, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for forebear
Cite this Entry
“Forebear.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forebear. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.
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