Tofore

//təˈfɔː(ɹ)// adv, conj, prep

adv, conj, prep ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    Before, previously. not-comparable, obsolete

    "Farewell, Lavinia, my noble sister ; O would thou wert as thou tofore hast been!"

Preposition
  1. 1
    Before. obsolete
Conjunction
  1. 1
    Before. obsolete

Example

More examples

"Farewell, Lavinia, my noble sister ; O would thou wert as thou tofore hast been!"

Etymology

From Middle English tofore, toforn, from Old English tōforan (“in front of”), from tō (“to”) + foran (“front, fore-part”, n.), dative case of fora (“front”). Compare Dutch tevoren (“previously”), German zuvor (“before, previously”). More at to, fore.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.