Word.ws English Dictionary

first-in, first-out

first-in, first-out is the alternative form of first in first out.

Meaning of first in first out

Noun

first in first out (uncountable)

  1. A method of inventory accounting that values items withdrawn from inventory at the cost of the oldest item assumed to remain in inventory.
  2. A policy of assigning priority to tasks and assignments that have arrived for service first.
    • To the onlooker, and particularly to those whose memories go back to pre-grouping days, the modern cavalcade of "V2s" and "B1s" is apt to become a little monotonous; but to any running man the general utility characteristics of these two classes are a perfect godsend at times of exceptional...1949 November and December, O. S. Nock, “Twenty-Four Hours at York—2”, in Railway Magazine, pages 357–358
  3. A type of queue data structure in which the oldest added items are retrieved first.
    Synonyms:
    FIFO

Questions about first-in, first-out

What is first-in, first-out the alternative form of?
First-in, first-out is the alternative form of first in first out.

Words near first-in, first-out in the dictionary

  1. first-foots
  2. first-generation
  3. first-half
  4. first-hand
  5. first-in first-out
  6. first-in, first-out
  7. first-in-first-out
  8. first-ladyship
  9. first-ladyships
  10. first-line
  11. first-mover disadvantage

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: first-in, first-out (page history and authors); first in first out (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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