first
See also: First
first - English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /fɜːst/
- (General American) enPR: fŭrst, IPA: /fɝst/
- (Scotland) IPA: /fɪrst/, /fʌrst/
- Hyphenation: first
Alternative forms
Adjective
first (not comparable)
- Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.
- Hancock was first to arrive.
- The first day of September 2013 was a Sunday.
- I was the first runner to reach the finish line, and won the race.
- Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.
- Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
- the first violinist
- Of or belonging to a first family.
- First Cat; First Daughter; First Dog; First Son
Related terms
Translations
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Adverb
first (not comparable)
- Before anything else; firstly.
- Clean the sink first, before you even think of starting to cook.
- I plunged nose first into the water.
- For the first time.
- I first witnessed a death when I was nine years old.
- (Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, nonstandard) Now.
Synonyms
- See also firstly
Translations
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Noun
first (countable and uncountable, plural firsts)
- (uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.
- He was the first to complete the course.
- (uncountable) The first gear of an engine.
- (countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
- This is a first. For once he has nothing to say.
- (countable, baseball) first base
- There was a close play at first.
- (countable, Britain, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.
- (countable, colloquial) A first-edition copy of some publication.
- (in combination) A fraction whose (integer) denominator ends in the digit 1.
- one forty-first of the estate
Translations
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Derived terms
Terms derived from the adjective, adverb, or noun first
- at first
- at first bluff
- at first blush
- at first glance
- at first sight
- at the first brunt
- blink first
- breadth-first search
- cast the first stone
- chief petty officer first class
- cloud-first
- code-first
- come first
- court of first instance
- database-first
- dead first
- depth-first search
- double first
- double first cousin
- eighty-first
- error of the first kind
- face first
- feet-first
- feet first
- fifty-first
- fifty-first state
- first-aid box
- first-aider
- first-aid kit
- first-born
- first-chance exception
- first-chop
- first-class, first class
- first-class citizen
- first-class continuation
- first-class entity
- first-class object
- first-class value
- first-come-first-served
- first-day cover, first day cover
- first-degree
- first-degree burn
- first-degree murder
- first-degree relative
- first-ever
- first-fit
- first-foot
- first-footing
- first-generation
- first-half
- first-hand
- first-line
- first-of-its-kind
- first-order
- first-order logic
- first-order spectrum
- first-party
- first-party logistics
- first-passage time
- first-person
- first-person dual
- first-person plural
- first-person shooter
- first-person singular
- first-rate
- first-sale doctrine
- first-string
- first-stringer
- first-teamer
- first-time
- first-time buyer
- first-timer
- first-wave feminism
- first-waver
- first aid
- first aid kit
- first among equals
- first and foremost
- first and last
- first annual
- first article
- first baseman
- first basing
- first bite free
- first blood
- firstborn
- first call
- first catch your hare
- first cause
- first chair
- first choice
- first citizen
- first city
- first class match
- first come, first served
- first come first served
- first conditional
- first contact
- first cosmic velocity
- first cousin
- first cousin once removed
- first cousin thrice removed
- first cousin twice removed
- first death
- first declension
- first dibs
- first division
- first down
- first e-rights
- first eleven
- first fiddle
- first fifteen
- first finger
- first five-eighth
- first flight cover
- first floor
- first flush
- first folio
- first footing
- first freedom rights
- first fruits
- first fundamental form
- first gear
- first gentleman
- first grade
- first grader
- first half
- first hand
- first imperative (Latin grammar)
- first impression
- first in first out
- first inversion
- first island chain
- First Lady
- first lady
- first language
- first leg
- first lieutenant
- first light
- first loser
- first love
- firstly
- first mate
- first milk
- first minister
- first mover
- first name
- first night
- first normal form
- first notice day
- first of all
- first off
- first officer
- first of never
- first olive out of the bottle
- first olive out of the jar
- first order of the day
- first order stream
- first palatalization
- first party
- first past the post
- first person
- first place
- first point of Aries
- first point of Cancer
- first point of Capricorn
- first point of Libra
- first port of call
- first principle
- first principles
- first quarter
- first rain
- first rate
- first reader
- first reading
- first receiver
- first responder
- first sale doctrine
- first school
- First Sea Lord
- first sergeant
- first sergeant
- first session
- first slip
- first strike
- first string
- first team
- first thing
- first things first
- first time
- first touch
- first truth
- first unit
- first up
- first violin
- first violinist
- first watch
- first water
- first woman
- first world problem
- forty-first
- get to first base
- half-first cousin
- have the first idea
- head-first
- head first
- health is your first wealth
- hundred-and-first
- hundred-first
- if at first you don't succeed
- in the first instance
- in the first place
- ladies first
- last in first out
- let he who is without sin cast the first stone
- let him that is without sin cast the first stone
- let him who is without sin cast the first stone
- love at first sight
- make the first move
- model-first
- murder in the first degree
- Newton's first law
- ninety-first
- nose-first
- not have the first idea
- not if I see you first
- not one's first rodeo
- on a first-name basis
- on first-name terms
- party of the first part
- people-first language
- perpetual motion machine of the first kind
- petty officer first class
- pinch and a punch for the first of the month
- play first fiddle
- private first class
- right of first refusal
- sergeant first class
- seventy-first
- shoot first and ask questions later
- single-first cousin
- sixty-first
- splendid first strike
- tender-first
- the first step is always the hardest
- thirty-first
- to a first approximation
- touch-first
- twenty-first
- what was your first clue
- who's on first
- women and children first
Noun
first (plural firsts)
Anagrams
first - Middle English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA: /first/, /furst/, /fɛrst/
Adjective
first