former

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹmɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːmə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)mə(ɹ)

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.

former (not comparable)

1. Previous.

   Synonyms: erstwhile, sometime, whilom, wont-to-be; see also Thesaurus:former

   Antonyms: next; see also Thesaurus:subsequent

   A former president

   the former East Germany

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

   • 2007, Junius P. Rodriguez, Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World:

     The former-slaves-turned-abolitionists Quobna Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano were the chief organizers of the Sons of Africa.

   • 2024 May 30, Sarah Dean and David McKenzie, “First results in South Africa’s election suggest it is heading for biggest political shift since apartheid”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Another ANC splinter party, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK), led by former President Jacob Zuma appears to be on course to do well in KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern coastal province where Durban is located.

3. First of aforementioned two items. Used with the, often without a noun.

   Antonym: latter

   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.

   Bananas are tastier than parsnips, but the latter’s nutritional value is higher than the former’s.

• fmr, fmr. (abbreviations)

• ex-

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

former (plural formers)

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

   Dave was the former of the company.

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

   The brick arch was built using a wooden former.

3. (chiefly British, used in combinations) Someone in, or of, a certain form (class).

   Fifth-former.

   Sixth-former.

• Reform, re-form, reform

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɒːmɐ]

former c

1. indefinite plural of form

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɒːmɐ]

former

1. present of forme

• IPA^(key): [fʌˈmeɐ̯ˀ]

former or formér

1. imperative of formere

Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin fōrmāre (“to form”).

• IPA^(key): /fɔʁ.me/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

former

1. to form (generic sense)
2. to shape (to make into a certain shape)
3. to train; to educate

• formation
• forme

• “former”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

fōrmer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of fōrmō

former m or f

1. indefinite plural of form

former

1. present of forme

former f

1. indefinite plural of form

former

1. indefinite plural of form

• reform