father

Plural: fathers

Noun

• a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
  • "his father was born in Atlanta"
• the founder of a family
  • "keep the faith of our forefathers"
• `Father' is a term of address for priests in some churches (especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox Catholic Church); `Padre' is frequently used in the military
• (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom
• a person who holds an important or distinguished position in some organization
  • "the tennis fathers ruled in her favor"
  • "the city fathers endorsed the proposal"
• God when considered as the first person in the Trinity
  • "hear our prayers, Heavenly Father"
• a person who founds or establishes some institution
  • "George Washington is the father of his country"
• the head of an organized crime family
• A male parent, especially of a human; a male who parents a child (which he has sired, adopted, fostered, taken as his own, etc.).
• A male who has sired a baby; this person in relation to his child or children.
• A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
• A term of respectful address for an elderly man.
• A term of respectful address for a priest.
• A person who plays the role of a father in some way.
• A pioneering figure in a particular field.
• Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
• Something inanimate that begets.
• A member of a church council.
• The archived older version of a file that immediately precedes the current version, and was itself derived from the grandfather.

Verb

Verb Forms: fathered, fathering, fathers

• To be the male parent of; to create or originate.
• make children
  • "Men often father children but don't recognize them"
• To be a father to; to sire.
• To give rise to.
• To act as a father; to support and nurture.
• To provide with a father.
• To adopt as one's own.

Examples

• Albert Einstein is the father of modern physics.
• Come, father; you can sit here.
• He managed to FATHER an impressive word, using almost all his letters for a bonus.
• My brother was a father to me after my parents got divorced.
• My father was a strong influence on me.
• My friend Tony just became a father.
• The child is father to the man.

Synonyms

beget, begetter, beginner, bring forth, Church Father, don, engender, Father of the Church, Father-God, Fatherhood, forefather, founder, founding father, generate, get, male parent, mother, Padre, sire, Father, Pappy, ayr, ba, baba, da, dad, dada, daddio, daddy, father, fatherling, mother and granddaddy, old man, pa, pap, papa, papaw, pappaw, pappy, pater, patriarch, paw, pawpaw, peepaw, pepaw, pop, poppa, poppy, pops

Antonyms

female parent, mother, child, daughter, son

Related Words

Father, Jupiter, beget, grandpa, pater, paterfamilias, paternal, sire