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fore⋅fa⋅ther

  [fawr-fah-ther, fohr-]
Use forefather in a Sentence
–noun
an ancestor.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME forefader. See fore-, father

Related forms:
fore⋅fa⋅ther⋅ly, adjective

Synonyms:
forebear, progenitor, patriarch, forerunner.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To forefather
fore·fa·ther   (fôr'fä'thər, fōr'-)   
n.  
  1. An ancestor. See Synonyms at ancestor.
  2. A person who is from an earlier time and has originated or contributed to a common tradition shared by a particular group.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Forefather

Fore"fa`ther\ (?; 277), n. One who precedes another in the line of genealogy in any degree, but usually in a remote degree; an ancestor.

Respecting your forefathers, you would have been taught to respect yourselves. --Burke.

Forefathers' Day, the anniversary of the day (December 21) on which the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts (1620). On account of a mistake in reckoning the change from Old Style to New Style, it has generally been celebrated on the 22d.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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