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forebear

[fawr-bair, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌbɛər, ˈfoʊr- /
NOUN
ancestor
Synonyms


Example Sentences

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His forebear Moses Montefiore was a British philanthropist who in 1840 helped secure the release of imprisoned Damascene Jews accused of blood libel—the false claim that Jews used Christian blood to bake matzo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

“Dept. of Speculation” by Jenny Offill is a forebear of the short-and-sweet literary canon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2026

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

Thandiwe nodded, and without another word, hopped off the roof while slipping the forebear beneath her feet.

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

Without any winking irony or condescension to our ancient forebears in storytelling, the writer-director aims to rekindle our fascination with these oft-told tales: the Trojan Horse, the Sirens’ song, Scylla and Charybdis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

It’s a puzzle why we binge on the sweetest and greasiest food we can find, until we consider the eating habits of our forager forebears.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari


Vocabulary lists containing forebear

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