first
preceding all others in time or space or degree
How often you will meet it
Rank 114 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 222,146 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.106% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 500 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adjective
- preceding all others in time or space or degree the first house on the rightthe first day of spring
- indicating the beginning unit in a series also: 1st
- serving to set in motion also: inaugural, initiative, initiatory, maiden the magazine's inaugural issuethe initiative phase in the negotiations
- serving to begin also: beginning the beginning canto of the poemthe first verse
- ranking above all others also: foremost, world-class was first in her classthe foremost figure among marine artists
- highest in pitch or chief among parts or voices or instruments or orchestra sections first sopranothe first violin section
noun
- the first or highest in an ordering or series also: number one He wanted to be the first
- the first element in a countable series also: number one, number 1 the first of the month
first in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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He lay still a long time, enduring--all he could manage at first.
The Courage of the Commonplace · Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews · Chapter 1
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I turned half-way round and saw Dorian Gray for the first time.
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1
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At the first rehearsal have the children listen to a reading of the play.
The White Christmas and other Merry · Walter Ben Hare · Chapter 1
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The boy's first Kentucky ancestor had been one of those who had stopped in the hills.
The Heart of the Hills · John, Jr. Fox · Chapter 1
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He only said on returning, "I knew, Christian, from the first, that you would be a good mother to my children."
Christian's Mistake · Dinah Maria Mulock Craik · Chapter 1