Word · Frequency #588
former
以前的；原先的；前任的
Existing or occurring before in time; previous.
- 1.
Previous.
以前的
- 2.
First of aforementioned two items. Used with the, often without a noun.
前者
- 3.
referring to the first of two things or persons mentioned (or the earlier one or ones of several)
前者
- 4.
belonging to some prior time
以前的
前者；以前的；从前的；前者的
In use
The former president gave a speech at the university.
This building was my former school; now it's a museum.
Between tea and coffee, I prefer the former because it has less caffeine.
the novel was made into a film in 1943 and again in 1967; I prefer the former version to the latter one
our former glory
former + noun (position/role)
表示过去担任某职位的人。
She is a former president of the company.
她是公司的前任总裁。
the former (contrasted with the latter)
用于指代已提及的两者中的第一个。
Connections
Collocations
- former president
- 前任总统
- The former president attended the ceremony.前总统出席了典礼。
- former colleague
- 前同事
- I met my former colleague at the conference.我在会议上遇到了我的前同事。
- former student
- 以前的学生
- She is a former student of this university.她是这所大学以前的学生。
- former home
- 故居
- They visited the former home of the famous writer.他们参观了那位著名作家的故居。
- the former Soviet Union
- 前苏联
- Many countries emerged after the breakup of the former Soviet Union.前苏联解体后出现了许多国家。
- former champion
Learner notes
Memory Tip
former（前者）与latter（后者）对比，f像first（第一），即前一个。
Context & Register
中性。通常用于描述前任职务、以往状态或对比中的前者。
Grammar Note
“former”通常用作定语（attributive），指“以前的；前任的”或“前者的”，不作表语。
Pronunciation & Spelling
Words that share the spelling ending 'mer' but only 'dormer' rhymes exactly with 'former' because it has the same stressed vowel /ɔː/. Others like 'hammer', 'summer', 'dimmer', 'stammer' have different vowel sounds.
High-value vocabulary
该词属于 Oxford 核心词汇，值得优先掌握常见搭配和句型。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 5，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from DICTIONARY_API_DEV, ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.