From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishforefatherfore‧fa‧ther /ˈfɔːˌfɑːðə $ ˈfɔːrˌfɑːðər/ noun [countable usually plural] 1 FAMILYthe people, especially men, who were part of your family a long time ago in the past SYN ancestorsomebody’s forefathers What would our forefathers have thought?2 someone in the past who did something important that influences your life today Two hundred years ago our forefathers established this nation.
Examples from the Corpus
forefather• The national anthem continues to glorify the same native land of brave forefathers and heroic exploits.• He shudders still with the memory of the loss of his forefathers upon its scorching deserts and forbidding mountain-tops.• As Mr Torode points out, our liberal forefathers insisted on the importance of testing faiths by submitting them to discussion.• She heard his cry, perhaps the battle cry of his northern forefathers when they prepared to attack.• Two hundred years ago our forefathers established a new nation.• We seem to have less of a work ethic than did our forefathers.• Our printing forefathers were notoriously careless about their pagination.• None of David's forefathers died in World War I.• In this sense farmers today are in danger of reaping the whirlwind sown by their forefathers.• Freud observed that people tend to puff up the status of their forefathers. 