Word.ws English Dictionary

at first

at first prepositional phrase: initially; at the start; originally.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Initially; at the start; originally.
    • If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
    • The work was hard at first, but soon I got used to it.

at first meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Odia

at first in Tamil

initially; at the start
முதலில் mutalil

at first in Urdu

پہلے

at first in Telugu

at first
తొలుత toluta

at first in Odia

at first
ଆଗ āga
More languagesFewer languages
at first in Sanskrit
प्रथमम् prathamam
at first in Assamese
প্ৰথমতে prothomote, প্ৰথমে prothome
at first in Thai
ตอนแรก
at first in Vietnamese
mới đầu

Examples of at first in a sentence

  • “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
  • At first I was afraid, I was petrified / Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side1978, Dino Fekaris, Freddie Perren, “I Will Survive”, performed by Gloria Gaynor:

Forms of at first

alternative form (dated)at the first

Questions about at first

What does at first mean?
At first means initially; at the start; originally.
What is at first in Tamil?
At first in Tamil is முதலில் (mutalil). See At first meaning in Tamil.
How do you use at first in a sentence?
“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr.
What part of speech is at first?
At first is a prepositional phrase.

Words near at first in the dictionary

  1. at death's door
  2. at each other's throats
  3. at ease
  4. at every turn
  5. at fault
  6. at first
  7. at first bluff
  8. at first blush
  9. at first glance
  10. at first hand
  11. at first sight

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at first (page history and authors); at first (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); తొలుత (Telugu) (page history and authors); ଆଗ (Odia) (page history and authors); প্ৰথমতে (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-at first.ogg, en-us-at first.ogg.

Cite this entry: “at first.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_first. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.