What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Forbear vs Ancestor - What's the difference?

forbear | ancestor |

As nouns the difference between forbear and ancestor

is that forbear is while ancestor is one from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather.

As a verb forbear

is to keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.

forbear

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) forberen, from (etyl) . (got)

Verb

  • To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.
  • To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xxii. 6
    • Shall I go to battle, or shall I forbear ?
  • To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel ii. 7
    • Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear .
  • To control oneself when provoked.
  • * Cowper
    • The kindest and the happiest pair / Will find occasion to forbear .
  • * Old proverb
    • Both bear and forbear .
    Related terms
    * forbearance * forbearant

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.
    • Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold [...]
  • * [1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia [http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=Eiji-EnuhXUC&pg=PA345&lpg=PA345&sig=aB2VV0fcWv6lkQPQatQQbDhlm_8]
    • One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group.
  • * 1997, H. L. Hix, Understanding W. S. Merwin [http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=8JIveUt8StQC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&sig=_AETFoZUYlti38_Va0zOHD4yZTk]
    • Beginning with the bald declaration “I think I was cold in the womb,” the speaker in “The Forbears'” then decides that his brother (who died soon after birth) must also have been cold in the womb, like his grandfather John and the ' forbears who antedated John:
    English heteronyms

    ancestor

    English

    Alternative forms

    * ancestour (obsolete) * auncestor (obsolete) * auncestour (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}
  • An earlier type; a progenitor
  • (legal) One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
  • (figuratively) One who had the same role or function in former times.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Wolverhampton 1-2 Newcastle , passage=The Magpies are unbeaten and enjoying their best run since 1994, although few would have thought the class of 2011 would come close to emulating their ancestors .}}

    Usage notes

    * There is a rare feminine form ancestress

    Derived terms

    * cenancestor

    Antonyms

    * descendant

    Anagrams

    *