father
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A male parent.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fahtherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɑðɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
“His father was born in Atlanta.”
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 person who holds an important or distinguished position in some organization
“The tennis fathers ruled in her favor.”
A person who founds or establishes some institution
“George Washington is the father of his country.”
A person who plays the role of a father in some way.
verb
To adopt as one's own.
figuratively
To give rise to.
To be a father to; to sire.
To act as a father; to support and nurture.
To provide with a father.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
Used this way, father is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
“His father was born in Atlanta.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Nearby words
- forefather , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Malenoun
“His father was born in Atlanta.”
Holdsnoun
“The tennis fathers ruled in her favor.”
Foundsnoun
“George Washington is the father of his country.”
More ways to use father
- “His father was born in Atlanta.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
A male parent (also used as a term of address to your father).
A Founding Father.
A term of address for one's wife.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
God when considered as the first person in the Trinity.
The father of your spouse.
Any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine.
A man who takes over all the functions of the real father.
A Catholic priest who was the hero of detective stories by G. K. Chesterton.
The legendary patron saint of children.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The kinship relation between an offspring and the father.
A father of your grandparent.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.