{
    "term": "father",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "a1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a male parent of a child or an animal; a person who is acting as the father to a child",
            "sensetop": "father to somebody",
            "labels": "(old-fashioned)",
            "cefr": "a1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "My father died in 2017."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Ben's a wonderful father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Our new boss is a **father of three** *(= he has three children)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "You've been **like a father** to me.",
                    "contextForm": "father to somebody"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was a wonderful father to both his natural and adopted children."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I never met my **biological father**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Father, I cannot lie to you."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Elena's brother was a surrogate father to her kids after her husband died."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He followed in his father's footsteps and became a motor mechanic."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Boland, a father of two, was arrested on charges of theft."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He followed the footsteps of his famous father into the film industry."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He had a domineering mother and a cold, distant father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He has an ailing father and two younger brothers to support."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He has just become the proud father of a baby girl."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He is very good with children and would make a devoted father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He paced like an expectant father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He succeeded his father as Professor of Botany."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was both a bad husband and a bad father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I always thought of you as a second father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I buried my father, and mourned his death."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I lost my father when I was nine."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Jesse is now married and father to a young son."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Meet your new father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Ryan has gone looking for his long-lost father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She followed her father into the legal profession."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She inherited the urge to travel from her father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She kept the books that had belonged to her beloved father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Some of his students regard him as a father figure."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The land passes on from father to son."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The new father took his son into his arms."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The two boys were like their mother in character, but Louise took after her father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Their musician father encouraged their love of music."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Try your best to honour your father."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a married father of two"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Family and relationships", "Life stages"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["lone", "single", "married"],
                "verb + father": ["resemble", "take after", "follow"],
                "father + noun": ["figure"],
                "phrases": [
                    "a father of two, etc.",
                    "father to somebody",
                    "follow in your father’s footsteps"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a person’s ancestors (= people who are related to you who lived in the past)",
            "labels": "(literary)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "the land of our fathers"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "the first man to introduce a new way of thinking about something or of doing something",
            "sensetop": "father (of something)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Henry Moore is considered to be the father of modern British sculpture."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "used by Christians to refer to God",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Father, forgive us."
                },
                {
                    "text": "God the Father"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "the title of a priest, especially in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Father Dominic"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Religion and festivals"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "from one generation of a family to the next",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used to say that a son’s character or behaviour is similar to that of his father",
            "labels": "(saying)",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "very much older than somebody (especially used to suggest that a romantic or sexual relationship between the two people is not appropriate)",
            "labels": "(disapproving)",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "we believe a thing because we want it to be true",
            "labels": "(saying)",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈfɑːðə(r)/",
                "audio": "fa/father/father__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈfɑːðər/",
                "audio": "fa/father/father__us_2.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Old English fæder, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vader and German Vater, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pater and Greek patēr."
}