Back to Dictionary
Get Free Checker

first

View Synonyms
[ US /ˈfɝst/ ]
[ UK /fˈɜːst/ ]
NOUN
  1. the time at which something is supposed to begin
    they got an early start
    she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her
  2. the first element in a countable series
    the first of the month
  3. the lowest forward gear ratio in the gear box of a motor vehicle; used to start a car moving
  4. the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed at first of the bases in the infield (counting counterclockwise from home plate)
  5. the first or highest in an ordering or series
    He wanted to be the first
  6. an honours degree of the highest class
ADJECTIVE
  1. indicating the beginning unit in a series
  2. serving to begin
    the beginning canto of the poem
    the first verse
  3. highest in pitch or chief among parts or voices or instruments or orchestra sections
    the first violin section
    played first horn
    first soprano
  4. preceding all others in time or space or degree
    the first house on the right
    the first meetings of the new party
    the first time
    the first phase of his training
    the first day of spring
    her first baby
    his first political race
  5. ranking above all others
    the top graduate
    was first in her class
    the foremost figure among marine artists
  6. serving to set in motion
    the initiative phase in the negotiations
    his first (or maiden) speech in Congress
    an initiatory step toward a treaty
    the magazine's inaugural issue
    the liner's maiden voyage
ADVERB
  1. prominently forward
    he put his best foot foremost
  2. before anything else
    first we must consider the garter snake
  3. before another in time, space, or importance
    let's do this job first
    I was here first
  4. the initial time
    when Felix first saw a garter snake
Top Definitions Examples
Enhance Your English Writing Skills
Fix common errors and boost your confidence in every sentence.
Get started
for free
Linguix pencil

How To Use first In A Sentence

  • When we see her, we remember that hot July day doing five knots pulling Jess and Jerry on a tube and Russ skippering his first yacht.
  • Blackpool Scorpions notched their first away win of the season against a good attacking Leigh team.
  • But at lunch on the first day we were approached by the helpful Hotel Manager Henri and offered a swap to an overwater bungalow.
  • Once tawhid is accepted as the first axiom of thought, the goal of life becomes bridging the gap between the asserter and the asserted. William C. Chittick, Ph.D.: Islam and the Goal of Love
  • Statutory rape laws were first enacted to protect minors from older predators.
  • The first batch of ten shows is seen as a test of viewer demand. Times, Sunday Times
  • If there was any hope of holding on to even a shred of her dwindling self-respect, she should do exactly what she knew Margo would do—close the laptop, take her de-scrunchied, perfumed, and nearly thonged self down to the nearest club, pick up the first passably good-looking stranger who asked her to dance, and bring him back to the apartment for some safe but anonymous sex. Goodnight Tweetheart
  • A barman at the pub said that he was one of the first two men to be arrested. Times, Sunday Times
  • We had a gam one day, on this voyage, with a Yankee whale-ship, and a first-rate gam it was, for, as the Yankee had gammed three days before with another English ship, we got a lot of news second-hand; and, as we had not seen a new face for many months, we felt towards those Yankees like brothers, and swallowed all they had to tell us like men starving for news. Fighting the Whales
  • Dance the coxswain was the first affected in that way, but after a few moments Mark felt that the poor fellow had been suffering in The Black Bar
View all