Word.ws English Dictionary

first-order

first-order adjective: of one of a series of models, languages, relationship, forms of logical discourse, etc., being the simplest one or the first in a sequence.

Adjective

first-order (not comparable)

  1. Of one of a series of models, languages, relationship, forms of logical discourse, etc., being the simplest one or the first in a sequence.
  2. Of fundamental importance.
    • If our goal is to put out the fire—to alleviate a humanitarian crisis broadly referenced in mainstream discourse as "mass incarceration" and "overcriminalization"— that are the specific benefits that flow from making fair policymaking process a first-order principle in the criminal-justice reform...2021, Trevor George Gardner, “By Any Means: A Philosophical Frame for Rulemaking Reform in Criminal Law”, in Yale Law Journal Forum, page 800

Words formed from first-order

  • first-order approximation
  • first-order control
  • first-order difference
  • first-order election
  • first-order fluid
  • first-order function
  • first-order hold
  • first-order levelling
  • first-order logic
  • first-order ordinary differential
  • first-order predicate
  • first-order question
  • first-order reaction
  • first-order relief
  • first-order spectrum
  • first-order station
  • first-order subroutine
  • first-order theory
  • first-order transition
  • first-order variable

Phrases with first-order

Questions about first-order

What does first-order mean?
First-order means of one of a series of models, languages, relationship, forms of logical discourse, etc., being the simplest one or the first in a sequence.
What part of speech is first-order?
First-order is an adjective.

Words near first-order in the dictionary

  1. first-naming
  2. first-nighter
  3. first-nighters
  4. first-of-its-kind
  5. first-of-its-kinds
  6. first-order
  7. first-order hold
  8. first-order holds
  9. first-order logic
  10. first-order logics
  11. first-order question

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: first-order (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-first-order.wav.

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