former

英 ['fɔːmə(r)] 美 ['fɔːrmər]

• adj. 前者的；前任的；以前的
• n. 创造者；<英>学校某一年级的学生

双解释义

adj. (形容词)

1. [A]过去的,在前的,以前的

   of an earlier period or time

详尽释义

adj. 形容词

1. 前者的
2. 在前的
3. 前任的
4. 先前的，以前的，从前的，往昔的，昔日的，往日的，旧时的，过去的，一度的

n. 名词

1. 样板
2. 创造者，构成者，形成者
3. 【机】模型
4. 成形设备
5. 【无线电】线圈架
6. 公学及其他中等学校的学生
7. 支撑板
8. 前者

英英释义

Noun:

1. the first of two or the first mentioned of two;

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

Adjective:

1. referring to the first of two things or persons mentioned (or the earlier one or ones of several);

   "the novel was made into a film in 1943 and again in 1967; I prefer the former version to the latter one"
   

2. belonging to some prior time;

   "erstwhile friend"
   "our former glory"
   "the once capital of the state"
   "her quondam lover"
   

3. (used especially of persons) of the immediate past;

   "the former president"
   "our late President is still very active"
   "the previous occupant of the White House"
   

4. belonging to the distant past;

   "the early inhabitants of Europe"
   "former generations"
   "in other times"
   

例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

1. Of these two men, the former is dead but the latter is still alive.
   这两个人中，前者已死，而后者仍然活着。
2. Mr. Heath is the former Prime Minister of Britain.
   希思先生是英国前任首相。
3. I paid a visit to my former English teacher.
   我拜访了我以前的英语老师。
4. Many of his former supporters voted against him.
   他以前的许多支持者投票反对他。

用作名词 (n.)

1. a former of ideas
   想出主意者
2. He is a fifth former.
   他是五年级生。

常见句型

用作形容词 (adj.)

1. He is the former premier.
   他是前任总理。
2. Some of them bitter attacked their former friends.
   他们中有些人恶毒地攻击他们过去的朋友。
3. It was the former capital of Turkey.
   这是土耳其过去的首都。
4. He's back to his former self again.
   他又恢复了以前的样子。

经典引文

• The Framer and Former of the Vniverse.

  出自： R. Cudworth

• The last thing..I want is to reopen our disagreements of former days.

  出自： B. Moore

词汇搭配

用作形容词 (adj.)

～+名词

• former capital 故都
• former husband 前夫
• former president 前总统
• former wife 前妻

词语用法

1. the former表示“前者”，the latter表示“后者”，两者相对，只可用于两个人或物之间；
2. former Mayor表示“前任市长”，而former Ambassador表示“前任大使”，这种former的用法多见于美国，英国人习惯用ex-来表示“前任的”。

词义辨析

previous，foregoing，preceding，prior，former

• 这些形容词均可表示“在前的”之意。
• previous指时间上、顺序上较早的，或指正在谈论的某事的前一个。
• foregoing指前所述的，是following的反义词。
• preceding特指时间和地位上紧接在前。
• prior与previous同义，常可换用，但prior有时强调更大的重要性，对比意味强。
• former系latter的反义词，比prior更着重对比。

近反义词

【近义词】

• old
• preceding

【反义词】

• latter