Former - definition of former by The Free Dictionary You use former in front of a noun to indicate that the person you are talking about is no longer the thing referred to by the noun For example, the former chairman of a company used to be the chairman, but is not the chairman now
former - WordReference. com Dictionary of English being the first of two: Our former manufacturing process was too costly being the first mentioned of two (distinguished from latter): The former suggestion was preferred to the latter