First1. (a.) 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. (a.) Foremost; in front of, or in advance of, all others.
3. (a.) Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest; as, Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
4. (adv.) Before any other person or thing in time, space, rank, etc.; -- much used in composition with adjectives and participles.
5. (n.) 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.
Thesaurus Entries
ab initio, ab ovo, aborigine, ahead, alpha, antecedent, anterior, anticipatory, arch, at first, at the start, banner, basic, before, before everything, beforehand, beginning, blue ribbon, breaking-in, by choice, by election, by vote, capital, cardinal, central, champion, chief, chiefly, ci-devant, commencement, crowning, dominant, earlier, earliest, early, elder, elementary, eminent, essential, exordial, first and foremost, first blush, first glance, first impression, first inning, first lap, first move, first place, first round, first sight, first stage, first step, first thing, firstly, focal, fore, foregoing, forehand, foremost, former, forward, from the beginning, front, frontal, fundamental, gambit, great, head, heading, headmost, hegemonic, highest, in advance, in front, in preference, in the beginning, in the forefront, in the foreground, in the front, in the lead, inaugural, inception, initial, initially, initiative, initiatory, key, le premier pas, leading, least, magisterial, maiden, main, mainly, master, measly, older, oldest, opening, opening move, original, originally, outset, outstanding, overruling, paramount, pioneer, precedent, preceding, precessional, precurrent, precursory, predominant, preeminent, preexistent, prefatory, preferably, preliminary, preludial, prelusive, premier, preparatory, preponderant, prevailing, prevenient, previous, primal, primarily, primary, prime, primitiveness, primitivity, primo, primogenial, primordial, principal, principally, prior, pristine, proemial, propaedeutic, ranking, rather, rather than, ruling, senior, slight, slightest, slim, smallest, sooner, sooner than, sovereign, star, start, stellar, supereminent, supreme, to the fore, to the front, topflight, trifling, triumph, trivial, up ahead, victory, warming-up, win