former

1. 1.

   the first of two or the first mentioned of two

   “Tom and Dick were both heroes but only the former is remembered today”

   Antonymslatter

   Broaderfirst

Other forms of former

plural

formers·

comparative

formerrer·

superlative

formerrest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about former

What does former mean?

former means "referring to the first of two things or persons mentioned (or the earlier one or ones of several)". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in former?

former has 2 syllables: for-mer. The stress falls on "for". In IPA it is /ˈfɔɹmɚ/.

What is another word for former?

Close synonyms include erstwhile, old, onetime, one-time, quondam. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of former?

The recorded antonyms are latter, latter.

Is former a common word?

former is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with former?

4 words rhyme with former. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.