WordWeb Online

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, beginner, founding father
    
5. The head of an organized crime family
   - don

1. Make (offspring) by reproduction
   "John fathered four daughters";
   - beget [archaic], get, engender, mother, sire, generate, bring forth
    
2. Bring into being
   - originate, initiate, start
    
3. Act as a father; support and nurture

1. (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
    
2. God when considered as the first person in the Trinity
   "hear our prayers, Heavenly Father";
   - God the Father, Father-God, Fatherhood
    
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: fathers, fathering, 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, Mother and Nine Children