Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

former

UK /ˈfɔːmə/ · US /ˈfɔɹmɚ/ adjective, noun

Forms formers fmr fmr.

  1. adjective Previous. “A former president”
  2. noun (preceding with "the") The first of aforementioned two items. “The former is a good idea but the latter is not.”
  3. noun Someone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder. “Dave was the former of the company.”
  4. noun An object used to form something, such as a template, gauge, or cutting die. “The brick arch was built using a wooden former.”
  5. noun (chiefly UK, used in combinations) Someone in, or of, a certain form (class). “Fifth-former.”

Synonyms

erstwhile sometime whilom wont-to-be antecedent anterior earlier ex foregone hitherto old olden past preceding precedent previous prior quondam used-to-be onetime one-time late early other

Antonyms

next following after later posterior subsequent succeeding successor ulterior current latter

Etymology

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.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun One who forms; a maker; a creator.
  2. noun (a) A shape around which an article is to be shaped, molded, woven wrapped, pasted, or otherwise constructed.
  3. adjective Preceding in order of time; antecedent; previous; prior; earlier; hence, ancient; long past.
  4. adjective Near the beginning; preceeding; as, the former part of a discourse or argument.

Etymology [A compar. due to OE. formest. See Foremost.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “former”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “former” (best matches first).

All 160 Sanskrit matches →