father
fo dher
- n a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
his father was born in Atlanta - n the founder of a family
keep the faith of our forefathers - n `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
- n (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
- n 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 - n God when considered as the first person in the Trinity
- n a person who founds or establishes some institution
George Washington is the father of his country - n the head of an organized crime family
- v make children
Men often father children but don't recognize them
- Rahm Emanuel is his own man, with an identity distinct from his father's.
- He wasn't a good father.
- And yet absences, like father and race, can quite irrationally open up deep--almost insatiable--longings.