What does First mean?

Definitions for First
fɜrstfirst

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word First.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. first, number onenoun

    the first or highest in an ordering or series

    "He wanted to be the first"

  2. first, number one, number 1noun

    the first element in a countable series

    "the first of the month"

  3. beginning, commencement, first, outset, get-go, start, kickoff, starting time, showtime, offsetnoun

    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"

  4. first base, firstnoun

    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. first, first-class honours degreenoun

    an honours degree of the highest class

  6. first gear, first, low gear, lowadjective

    the lowest forward gear ratio in the gear box of a motor vehicle; used to start a car moving

  7. firstadjective

    preceding all others in time or space or degree

    "the first house on the right"; "the first day of spring"; "his first political race"; "her first baby"; "the first time"; "the first meetings of the new party"; "the first phase of his training"

  8. first, 1stadjective

    indicating the beginning unit in a series

  9. inaugural, initiative, initiatory, first, maidenadjective

    serving to set in motion

    "the magazine's inaugural issue"; "the initiative phase in the negotiations"; "an initiatory step toward a treaty"; "his first (or maiden) speech in Congress"; "the liner's maiden voyage"

  10. beginning(a), firstadjective

    serving to begin

    "the beginning canto of the poem"; "the first verse"

  11. first, foremost, world-classadjective

    ranking above all others

    "was first in her class"; "the foremost figure among marine artists"; "the top graduate"

  12. firstadverb

    highest in pitch or chief among parts or voices or instruments or orchestra sections

    "first soprano"; "the first violin section"; "played first horn"

  13. first, firstly, foremost, first of all, first offadverb

    before anything else

    "first we must consider the garter snake"

  14. first, for the first timeadverb

    the initial time

    "when Felix first saw a garter snake"

  15. firstadverb

    before another in time, space, or importance

    "I was here first"; "let's do this job first"

  16. foremost, firstadverb

    prominently forward

    "he put his best foot foremost"

Wiktionary

  1. firstnoun

    The person or thing in the first position.

    He was the first to complete the course.

  2. firstnoun

    The first gear of an engine.

  3. first

    Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.

    This is a first. For once he has nothing to say.

  4. first

    first base

    There was a close play at first.

  5. first

    A first-class honours degree.

  6. first

    A first-edition copy of some publication.

  7. first

    A fraction of an integer ending in one. Oneth.

    One forty-first of the estate.

  8. firstnoun

    Time; time granted; respite.

  9. firstadverb

    Before anything else; firstly.

  10. firstadjective

    Having no predecessor. The ordinal number corresponding to one.

  11. Firstadjective

    Of or pertaining to the executive of a particular nation or state.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. FIRSTadjective

    Etymology: first, Saxon.

    Thy air,
    Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
    —— A third is like the former. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

    In the six hundreth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth. Gen. viii. 13.

    Arms and the man I sing, the first who bore
    His course to Latium from the Trojan shore. Æn.

    The first covenant had also ordinances of divine service. Heb. ix. i.

    I find, quoth Mat, reproof is vain!
    Who first offend, will first complain. Matthew Prior.

    Three presidents, of whom Daniel was first. Dan.

    First with the dogs, and king among the squires. Spect.

    My first son,
    Where will you go? Take good Cominius
    With thee. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus.

  2. Firstadverb

    He, not unmindful of his usual art,
    First in dissembled fire attempts to part;
    Then roaring beasts and running streams he tries. Dryden.

    Thy praise, and thine was then the publick voice,
    First recommended Guiscard to my choice. Dryden.

    Heav’n, sure, has kept this spot of earth uncurst,
    To shew how all things were created first. Matthew Prior.

    First, metals are more durable than plants; secondly, they are more solid and hard; thirdly, they are wholly subterraneous; whereas plants are part above earth, and part under the earth. Francis Bacon, Natural History, №. 603.

    At first the silent venom slid with ease,
    And seiz’d her cooler senses by degrees. John Dryden, Æn.

    Excepting fish and insects, there are very few or no creatures that can provide for themselves at first, without the assistance of parents. Richard Bentley, Sermons.

    But sure a general doom on man is past,
    And all are fools and lovers first or last. Dryden.

Wikipedia

  1. First

    First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).

ChatGPT

  1. first

    First has several definitions depending on the context: 1. Adjective: Coming before all others in time, order, importance, or significance. Example: "This is my first time visiting New York City." 2. Adverb: Before anything else or before doing anything else. Example: "I will first finish my homework, then watch a movie." 3. Noun: The person or thing that comes before all others in time, order, or importance. Example: "She crossed the finish line first in the race." 4. Prefix: Denoting something that is before all others in time, order, or importance. Example: "The firstborn child." Overall, "first" implies being at the front, beginning, or initial position in a sequence or hierarchy.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Firstadjective

    preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest; as, the first day of a month; the first year of a reign

  2. Firstadjective

    foremost; in front of, or in advance of, all others

  3. Firstadjective

    most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest; as, Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece

  4. Firstadverb

    before any other person or thing in time, space, rank, etc.; -- much used in composition with adjectives and participles

  5. Firstnoun

    the upper part of a duet, trio, etc., either vocal or instrumental; -- so called because it generally expresses the air, and has a preeminence in the combined effect

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. First

    fėrst, adj. foremost: preceding all others in place, time, or degree: most eminent: chief.—adv. before anything else, in time, space, rank, &c.—adjs. First′-begot′ten, begotten or born first: eldest; First′-born, born first.—n. the first in the order of birth: the eldest child.—adj. First′-class, of the first class, rank, or quality.—ns. First′-day, Sunday; First′-floor (see Floor); First′-foot (Scot.), the first person to enter a house after the beginning of the new year; First′-fruit, First′-fruits, the fruits first gathered in a season: the first profits or effects of anything, bishoprics, benefices, &c.—adj. First′-hand, obtained without the intervention of a second party.—n. First′ling, the first produce or offspring, esp. of animals.—adv. First′ly, in the first place.—adjs. First′-rate, of the first or highest rate or excellence: pre-eminent in quality, size, or estimation; First′-wa′ter, the first or highest quality, purest lustre—of diamonds and pearls. [A.S. fyrst; the superl. of fore by adding -st.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. first

    The appellation of the senior lieutenant; also, senior lieutenant of marines, and first captain of a gun.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. FIRST

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, First is ranked #20971 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The First surname appeared 1,255 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname First.

    85.5% or 1,074 total occurrences were White.
    7.6% or 96 total occurrences were Black.
    3.3% or 42 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    2% or 26 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'First' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #79

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'First' in Written Corpus Frequency: #146

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Anagrams for First »

  1. frist

  2. rifts

How to pronounce First?

How to say First in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of First in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of First in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of First in a Sentence

  1. Kingsley Douglas:

    Western countries are looking out for their citizens first before looking elsewhere. I do not begrudge them for being protectionist in their approach, nonetheless, it is in the interest of everyone that the critical mass of the world's population gets vaccinated and protected against Covid. Vaccines should be uniformly and equitably distributed.

  2. Fox News:

    The other key thing is that by January 2022, enough data from U.S. and other international trade data sources … there had been enough time for other trade data set to catch up and cover the period [ following ] the first few months after Stan’s sale, which proved really important in my investigation into Stan’s sale.

  3. Alex Verdugo:

    Off the bat, I knew I hit it well, but the ball just kept carrying, i was fortunate enough to get it over the fence. The thought process behind that at-bat was the at-bat before I chased an offspeed pitch and hit it weakly to first base. My goal was just basically let the ball get deep, let it travel and try to stay up the middle as best I could.

  4. Jaime Angeles:

    The Cuban system has all the legal tools to protect trademarks of any country, filing first is the cheapest protection you can get.

  5. Arnau Garcia:

    Right now natural parks have two big problems, the first one of them is to detect rhinos and non-authorized people in the area. That has been done with helicopters and planes up until now, but that is very expensive. In addition, you cannot see people who hide under trees from a plane. We solve this with thermal cameras. We use a drone that carries that kind of camera and looks over that area or those places suspected of having this kind of problem and it detects hot points. Like we see here. This shows people. Every pixel has a different color depending on how hot it is. This is placed on the drone, that takes a picture and reports directly to the ranger.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

First#1#83#10000

Translations for First

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for First »

Translation

Find a translation for the First definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"First." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LTD, 2026. Web. 23 Jul 2026. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/First>.

Discuss these First definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for First? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Image or illustration of

    First

    Credit »

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    being essentially equal to something
    A eminent
    B equivalent
    C ultimo
    D tacky

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for First: