father (n.)

  1. a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father); his father was born in Atlanta

    [ Syn: male parent , male parent , begetter , begetter ]

  2. the founder of a family; keep the faith of our forefathers

    [ Syn: forefather , sire ]

  3. `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

    [ Syn: father , father , padre , padre ]

  4. (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

    [ Syn: church father , father of the church , father ]

  5. 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'

  6. God when considered as the first person in the Trinity; hear our prayers, Heavenly Father

    [ Syn: father , father-god , fatherhood ]

  7. a person who founds or establishes some institution; George Washington is the father of his country

    [ Syn: founder , beginner , founding father ]

  8. the head of an organized crime family

    [ Syn: don ]

    father (v.)

  1. make children; Abraham begot Isaac; Men often father children but dont recognize them

    [ Syn: beget , get , engender , mother , sire , generate , bring forth ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.