Meaning

4 senses
  1. (singular, singular only)The first of aforementioned two items.

    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.

    ehemalig, vorig, früher

    бы́вшийbývšij, пре́жнийpréžnij, предыду́щийpredydúščij

    коли́шнійkolýšnij, пе́ршийpéršyj

    the first of two or the first mentioned of two

  2. (singular, singular only)Someone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder.

    Dave was the former of the company.

  3. (singular, singular only)An object used to form something, such as a template, gauge, or cutting die.

    The brick arch was built using a wooden former.

  4. (UK, singular, singular only)Someone in, or of, a certain form (class).

    Fifth-former.

    Sixth-former.

Examples

324 sentences
  1. Tom is the former owner of this club.

    Том - колишній власник цього клубу. — miketheknight

  2. Tom is a former world triathlon champion.

    Том — колишній чемпіон світу з тріатлону. — deniko

    ruТом - прежний чемпион мира по триатлону. — astyng

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · patgfisher · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  3. Tom is a former firefighter.

    Том — колишній пожежник. — deniko

    ruТом - бывший пожарный. — marafon

  4. Tom is one of our former clients.

    ruТом — один из наших бывших клиентов. — odexed

    deTom ist einer unserer ehemaligen Klienten. — raggione

  5. Tom is a former family court judge.

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 2
previous:
first of aforementioned two items:
Русский
By meaning 2
previous:
first of aforementioned two items:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
previous:
first of aforementioned two items:

Origin

Inherited from Middle English former, comparative of forme (“first”), from Old English for

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.

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

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former — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto