father 1 of 2

noun

ˈfä-t͟hər How to pronounce father (audio)
Definition of fathernext
1
as in dad
a male human parent the special relationship that exists between fathers and sons

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2
as in founder
a person who establishes a whole new field of endeavor Sir Isaac Newton is regarded by many as the father of modern science

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in grandfather
a person who is several generations earlier in an individual's line of descent our fathers founded this nation on the fundamental belief that no person is entitled to rule by divine right

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in Lord
capitalized the being worshipped as the creator and ruler of the universe let us ask humbly for the blessings of our Father in heaven

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father

2 of 2

verb

as in to sire
to become the father of Paul Revere somehow found room in his small house for the large family he had fathered

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of father
Noun
Sean Ono Lennon took to X over the weekend to clarify how his late father, John Lennon, provided for him and his half brother Julian Lennon before the former Beatles’ tragic murder in 1980. — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2026 The new Baywatch finds wild-child legacy character Hobie Buchannon (Stephen Amell) serving as a Baywatch Captain, following in his legendary father Mitch’s footsteps. — Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
Verb
River’s investigation leads to Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving), a former CIA officer who has fathered many sons with different women, raising the boys in a private compound in France as a private army of mercenaries. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Aug. 2026 There, her enslaver fathered her child, George, who became known as Chicken George because of his skills working gamecock fights. — Anne Haley, Time, 11 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for father
Recent Examples of Synonyms for father
  1. dad
  2. founder
  3. grandfather
  4. sire
  5. daddy
  6. creator
  7. ancestor
  8. spawn
Noun
  • Mitt reminds me of these famous sports dads — Earl Woods, Richard Williams, Marv Marinovich — who put a golf club or tennis racket or football in their kids’ cribs.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2026
  • O'Hara's daughter, Kayla Kerney, is an intern in the program and grew up seeing her dad fight fires.
    — Charlie Lapastora, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of dad
Noun
  • The leading contributor, as my colleague Queenie Wong has reported, is Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who claims to have moved out of the state, which might enable him to avoid the tax.
    — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Someone else wants a softer version of the founder’s hard lesson.
    — Tavares Beverly, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of founder
Noun
  • Shiloh is now walking through the halls where her grandfather was a teacher, her aunt was a counselor and four of her five siblings went to school.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
  • His grandfather was English, and much of the shoot involved being at a different moor or castle with wild horses galloping around every other week, Nordrum says.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of grandfather
Verb
  • Breeders could now use genetically valuable Holstein bulls more widely, and through artificial insemination, a single bull could sire more than 50,000 daughters.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Nobody complained when Pitt received the part of Louis de Pointe du Lac, a wealthy plantation owner in the late 18th century whom Lestat would eventually sire after Louis is consumed by grief over the death of his wife and child.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of sire
Noun
  • Still, there’s something to the earnestness with which the movie does finally have its daddy issues and its cetacean ones intersect.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The world’s richest person, MAGA donor, chainsaw waver, baby daddy and would-be Mars colonizer takes a thrashing.
    — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of daddy
Noun
  • Mann spoke about one the challenges of being a creator was how to evolve.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
  • In the film, directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin, Jobs (Michael Fassbender) is still the indisputable hero, a creator of miraculous products that can be only so marred by his personal blemishes.
    — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of creator
Noun
  • The changes would have affected the environments in which life developed and evolved, from the age of the dinosaurs through to some of our oldest primate ancestors.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 13 Oct. 2026
  • In his view, Flagg Mountain’s fire-scarred stumps corroborate what his community already knew—that their ancestors used fire for centuries—and reinforce their sense of responsibility to care for the land.
    — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of ancestor
Verb
  • Slop spawns, and Waymo’s artificially intelligent cars hum into view like two-ton rolling Rorschach tests.
    — Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • DeSantis also warned residents far outside the cone to watch for tornadoes, which can spawn before the core of Isaias moves ashore.
    — Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of spawn

Phrases Containing father

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father
fathered
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Cite this Entry

“Father.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/father. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on father

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about father

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