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Noun: father  faa-dhu(r)
  1. A male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
    "his father was born in Atlanta";
    - male parent, begetter [archaic], dad [informal], dada [informal], daddy [informal], pa [informal], papa [informal], pappa [informal], pop [informal], poppa [N. Amer, informal], pappy [informal], da [dialect, informal]
     
  2. The founder of a family
    "keep the faith of our fathers";
    - forefather, sire
     
  3. A person who holds an important or distinguished position in some organization
    "the tennis fathers ruled in her favour"; "the city fathers endorsed the proposal"
     
  4. A person who founds or establishes some institution
    "George Washington is the father of his country";
    - founder, founding father
     
  5. The head of an organized crime family
    "The father ordered a hit on a rival gang leader";
    - don
Verb: father  faa-dhu(r)
  1. Make (offspring) by reproduction
    "John fathered four daughters";
    - beget [archaic], engender [archaic], mother, sire, bring forth
     
  2. Bring into being
    "He fathered several new projects";
    - originate, initiate, start
     
  3. Act as a father; support and nurture
    "He fathered the orphaned children"
Noun: Father
  1. God when considered as the first person in the Trinity
    "hear our prayers, Heavenly Father";
    - God the Father, Father-God, Fatherhood
     
  2. (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
    - Church Father, Father of the Church
     
  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
    - Padre

Derived forms: fathering, fathers, Fathers, fathered

Type of: ancestor, antecedent, ascendant, ascendent, chief, conceiver, create, form of address, head, hypostasis, hypostasis of Christ, leader, make, mastermind, originator, parent, priest, root, theologian, theologiser [Brit], theologist, theologizer, title, title of respect, top dog [informal]

Encyclopedia: Father, Son, Holy Ghost