- a male parent of a child or an animal; a person who is acting as the father to a child
- My father died in 2017.
- Ben's a wonderful father.
- Our new boss is a father of three (= he has three children).
- father to somebody You've been like a father to me.
- He was a wonderful father to both his natural and adopted children.
- I never met my biological father.
- (old-fashioned) Father, I cannot lie to you.
Extra ExamplesTopics Family and relationshipsa1, Life stagesa1- Elena's brother was a surrogate father to her kids after her husband died.
- He followed in his father's footsteps and became a motor mechanic.
- Boland, a father of two, was arrested on charges of theft.
- He followed the footsteps of his famous father into the film industry.
- He had a domineering mother and a cold, distant father.
- He has an ailing father and two younger brothers to support.
- He has just become the proud father of a baby girl.
- He is very good with children and would make a devoted father.
- He paced like an expectant father.
- He succeeded his father as Professor of Botany.
- He was both a bad husband and a bad father.
- I always thought of you as a second father.
- I buried my father, and mourned his death.
- I lost my father when I was nine.
- Jesse is now married and father to a young son.
- Meet your new father.
- Ryan has gone looking for his long-lost father.
- She followed her father into the legal profession.
- She inherited the urge to travel from her father.
- She kept the books that had belonged to her beloved father.
- Some of his students regard him as a father figure.
- The land passes on from father to son.
- The new father took his son into his arms.
- The two boys were like their mother in character, but Louise took after her father.
- Their musician father encouraged their love of music.
- Try your best to honour your father.
- a married father of two
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- lone
- single
- married
- …
- resemble
- take after
- follow
- …
- figure
- a father of two, etc.
- father to somebody
- follow in your father’s footsteps
- …
- fathers[plural] (literary) a person’s ancestors (= people who are related to you who lived in the past)
- the land of our fathers
- father (of something) the first man to introduce a new way of thinking about something or of doing something
- Henry Moore is considered to be the father of modern British sculpture.
- Fatherused by Christians to refer to God
- Father, forgive us.
- God the Father
- Father(abbreviation Fr)the title of a priest, especially in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church
- Father Dominic
Word OriginOld English fæder, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vader and German Vater, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pater and Greek patēr.
Idioms
See father in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee father in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishfrom father to son
- from one generation of a family to the next
like father, like son
- (saying) used to say that a son’s character or behaviour is similar to that of his father
old enough to be somebody’s father/mother
- (disapproving) very much older than somebody (especially used to suggest that a romantic or sexual relationship between the two people is not appropriate)
the wish is father to the thought
- (saying) we believe a thing because we want it to be true
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