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former.

Previous.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈfɔɹmɚ/General-American/ˈfɔːmə/Received-Pronunciation

  1. Previous.

    not-comparable
    A former president
    the former East Germany
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English former, comparative of forme (“first”), from Old English forma (“first”), descended from Proto-Germanic *frumô. Parallel to prior (via Latin), as comparative form from same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to first and fore (thence before), from Proto-Germanic.

noun/ˈfɔɹmɚ/General-American/ˈfɔːmə/Received-Pronunciation

  1. The first of aforementioned two items.

    singular · singular-only
    The former is a good idea but the latter is not.
    We have two cars, a red one and a blue one. We won the former on a game show.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English former, comparative of forme (“first”), from Old English forma (“first”), descended from Proto-Germanic *frumô. Parallel to prior (via Latin), as comparative form from same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to first and fore (thence before), from Proto-Germanic.

noun/ˈfɔɹmɚ/General-American/ˈfɔːmə/Received-Pronunciation

  1. Someone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder.

    singular · singular-only
    Dave was the former of the company.

  2. An object used to form something, such as a template, gauge, or cutting die.

    singular · singular-only
    The brick arch was built using a wooden former.

  3. Someone in, or of, a certain form (class).

    UK · singular · singular-only
    Fifth-former.
    Sixth-former.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English formere. By surface analysis, form + -er.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.