US /ɛr/ UK /ɛə/
Homophones
prep conj

Meanings

  1. 1
    prep

    before (in time)

    They hoped to reach the village ere nightfall.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 prep · before (in time) beforepreviouslysooner than
Opposites
Word family
Derived forms erenowerewhileerelong
Related forms earlyersterstwhile

Etymology

From Old English ǣr 'before, sooner, earlier', from Proto-Germanic *airiz, comparative of *air 'early'.

View etymology graph ->

Topics

markdown

Send feedback

Optional — only if you'd like a reply.