former

1. not comparablePrevious.

   A former president

   4 more examples

   the former East Germany

   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.

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

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

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

   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.

   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

   Synonyms: erstwhile, sometime, whilom, wont-to-be, antecedent, anterior, earlier, erstwhile · Antonyms: next, following, next, after, later, posterior, subsequent, succeeding

alternative abbreviation fmr · alternative abbreviation fmr.

1. singularsingular onlyThe first of aforementioned two items.

   The former is a good idea but the latter is not.

   2 more examples

   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.

   Antonyms: latter

plural formers

1. singularsingular onlySomeone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder.

   Dave was the former of the company.

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

   The brick arch was built using a wooden former.

3. UKsingularsingular onlySomeone in, or of, a certain form (class).

   Fifth-former.

   1 more example

   Sixth-former.