What does first mean?
First means Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest..
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/fɜːst/ · adjective
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.
Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).
Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks.
Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
the first violinist
Use first when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
First means Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest..
Common synonyms include maiden, initiative, offset, low.
Possible antonyms include intermediate, last, end, second.
Hancock was first to arrive.
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