the former Definition

former
adj

1. Belonging to an earlier time.

Example: in former years
Example: the former prime minister
Thesaurus: erstwhile, preceding, past, earlier, prior, old, late, previous, antecedent, pristine; Antonym: current, present, future, prospective, subsequent.
2. Said of two people or things: mentioned, considered, etc first.

Thesaurus: preceding, above, aforementioned.
3. Previous; earlier.

Idiom: the former

Said of two people or things: the first one mentioned, considered, etc. Compare latter.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon formere, the comparative of forma first or earliest.

Info:

○ Former contrasts with latter; unlike latter it is invariably used to refer to one of only two things. This is not for any grammatical reason but because it would be awkward to refer back across several things in reference to the first of them.