former | meaning of former in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishformerfor‧mer1 /ˈfɔːmə $ ˈfɔːrmər/ ●●● S2 W1 adjective [only before noun]    1 BEFOREhappening or existing before, but not now  the former Soviet Union  Their farm has been reduced to half its former size.► see thesaurus at last2 having a particular position in the past SYN ex-  my former husband  former President Clinton3 → in former times/years4 → somebody/something’s former self Examples from the Corpusformer• Her former husband now lives in Houston.• Most of the former inmates sought refuge in his abbey, and many stayed on to help run it.• He was an adviser to former President Reagan.• Weinburger was an advisor to former president Ronald Reagan.• In the fall of 1990 we moved our baking facility from Forestville to downtown Santa Rosa, into a former tortilla factory.• Civil war raged for years in the former Yugoslavia.formerformer2 noun    1 → the former 2 → first/second/sixth etc formerExamples from the Corpusformer• Steven Soderbergh, nominated as best director for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich, won for the former.• For the former, therefore, to return among the latter was not to degrade, but to promote them.From Longman Business Dictionaryformerfor‧mer /ˈfɔːməˈfɔːrmər/ adjective [only before a noun] happening or existing in the past, but not nowthe former chairman of United Telecommunications IncOrigin former1 (1100-1200) forme “first” ((12-16 centuries)), from Old English forma