former

• Discipline by pain.+ He who wants to make another do something, or to prevent him from doing something, may, if the former is the stronger, connect act or omission with the infliction of pain. —  Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals
• "[592] Of these two schools of heretics the former was the more popular and tenacious. —  Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals
• In royal houses it happened often that the illegitimate branch took the throne on the failure of the other, so that the existence of the former was a recognized and useful fact, not a shameful one. —  Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals
• But Flynn preceded Casey, and likewise so did Blake, And the former was a pudding and the latter was a fake; So on that stricken multitude a death-like silence sat, For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat. —  The Book of Humorous Verse
• For the former is a beautiful and valuable beast, But the latter is not lovable nor useful in the least; And the Ruminant is preferable surely to the Priest Who battens on the woful superstitions of the East The Mongol of the Monastery of Shan Hilaire Belloc. —  The Book of Humorous Verse

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context