foremost
UK/ˈfɔː.məʊst/
foremost adjective: positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward.
Adjective
foremost (not comparable)
- Positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward.
- She prankes not by hir mistresse side, she preases not to bée / The foremost of the companie, as when she erst was frée.1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC
- As I plunged into the reeds, my foremost pursuers emerged from the gap.1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Chapter 12”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of...
- Synonyms:
- front, frontmost, forwardmost
- Coming before (all) others in time.
- […] of both them, she / (By Pallas counsell) was to haue the grace / Of foremost greeting.c. 1615, George Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses, London: Nathaniel Butter, Book 7, p. 102
- He was the best horseman, and the swiftest runner of his time. He was ever the foremost to engage, and the last to retreat;1769, Oliver Goldsmith, The Roman History, London: S. Baker and G. Leigh et al., Volume 1, Chapter 16, p. 254
- Synonyms:
- first
- Of the highest rank or position; of the greatest importance; of the highest priority.
- The exhibition features works by the country’s foremost artists.
- Foremost among the workers’ grievances was the company’s failure to address the many safety issues in the plant.
- Closest to the bow.
- I let fall the tiller, turned my back on them, and sat down on the foremost thwart.1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 10, in Lord Jim, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, page 133
- Antonyms:
- aftermost
Adverb
foremost (not comparable)
- In front, prominently forward.
- No Man hath more nicely observed our Climate, than the Bookseller who bought the Copy of this Work; He knows to a Tittle what Subjects will best go off in a dry Year, and which it is proper to expose foremost, when the Weather-glass is fallen to much Rain.1704, Jonathan Swift, “The Conclusion”, in A Tale of a Tub, London: John Nutt, pages 215-216
- She saw the young Corinthian Lycius / Charioting foremost in the envious race,1820, John Keats, “Lamia,” Part 1, in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: Taylor and Hessey, p. 15
- First in time.
- Alwayes the worst goes foremost, so twill prove I hopec. 1618, Philip Massinger, Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, The Old Law, London: Edward Archer, 1656, Act III, Scene 1, p. 41
- Our thirst, at length, and hunger both sufficed, / I, foremost speaking, ask’d you to the wars1791, William Cowper, transl., The Iliad of Homer, London: J. Johnson, Book 11, lines 946-947, p. 299
- Most importantly.
- […] Mrs. Nickleby, with the utmost sincerity, gave vent to her sorrows after her own peculiar fashion of considering herself foremost,1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 51, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 597
- It seemed as if he had been gently awakened from a long sleep. The corners of his mouth hung down, drugged and paralyzed, and through the gray light of this soft, new-born consciousness it occurred to him first, prime and foremost (order, order, he found himself pleading) that he was not properly...1951, William Styron, chapter 5, in Lie Down in Darkness, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, page 214
- Synonyms:
- especially, particularly
Proper noun capitalized: Foremost
Foremost
foremost meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
foremost in Hindi
- foremost, chief, principal
- प्रमुख pramukh
- foremost, leading, mighty
- धुरंधर dhurandhar
foremost in Tamil
- மிக முக்கியமான, மிக முற்பட்ட, மிகச் சிறப்பான, மிகமுக்கிய, மிகமுக்கியமான, தலையாய
foremost in Marathi
- foremost, leading, prominent
- प्रमुख pramukh
foremost in Urdu
- foremost, chief, principal
- پرمکھ pramukh
- foremost, very first, earliest
- اولین avvalīn
- foremost, primary
- اول avval, نخست nuxust
More languagesFewer languages
- foremost in Malayalam
- അഗ്രമായ, ഉത്തമമായ, മുന്നിട്ടുനില്ക്കുന്ന, ഏറ്റവും പ്രമുഖം
- foremost in Kannada
- ಮೊಟ್ಟಮೊದಲಿನ, ಪ್ರಧಾನ, ಅಗ್ರೇಸರ, ಅಗ್ರಗಣ್ಯ
- foremost in Gujarati
- પ્રમુખ pramukh
- foremost in Odia
- ଧୁରନ୍ଧର dhurandhara
- foremost in Sanskrit
- प्रथम prathamá, अग्र ágra, धुरंधर dhúraṃdhará, अग्रिम agrimá
Examples of foremost in a sentence
- Juan Diego hadn’t noticed the other people in the temple, except for what appeared to be two mourners; they knelt in the foremost pew.2015, John Irving, chapter 7, in Avenue of Mysteries, London: Doubleday, page 70:
- What, shall one of us / That struck the foremost man of all this world / But for supporting robbers, shall we now / Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...
- The little engine stood, tender foremost, at the platform, with its two coaches; [...].1944 January and February, E. R. McCarter, “The Cairn Valley Light Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 47:
- […] what haunts the heart will, when it is found, leap foremost, blinding the eye and leaving the main of Life in darkness.1946, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, Penguin, published 1981, page 137:
Synonyms of foremost
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Origin of foremost
From Old English formest, fyrmest (“earliest, first, most prominent”), from Proto-Germanic *frumistaz, from the locative stem *fur-, *fr- + the superlative suffix *-umistaz, stem ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr-. The suffix *-umistaz was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix *-umô (as in Old English fruma) + the regular superlative suffix *-istaz (English -est); *-umô in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-. Cognate with Old Frisian formest, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (frumists). See for, first and Old English fruma for more. Partially cognate to primus, from Proto-Indo-European *pr- + Latin superlative suffix -imus, from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-. A comparative former was back-formed analogically, leaving the m from *-umô in place. Later the Old English suffix complex -(u)m-est was conflated with the word most through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted as fore + -most.
Words formed from foremost
Phrases with foremost
Words that rhyme with foremost
12 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about foremost
- What does foremost mean?
- Foremost means positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward.
- What is foremost in Hindi?
- Foremost in Hindi is प्रमुख (pramukh), धुरंधर (dhurandhar). See Foremost meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use foremost in a sentence?
- Juan Diego hadn’t noticed the other people in the temple, except for what appeared to be two mourners; they knelt in the foremost pew.
- What part of speech is foremost?
- Foremost can be an adjective, an adverb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce foremost?
- Foremost is pronounced /ˈfɔː.məʊst/ (UK).
Words near foremost in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: foremost (page history and authors); Foremost (page history and authors); धुरंधर (Hindi) (page history and authors); foremost (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); प्रमुख (Marathi) (page history and authors); اول (Urdu) (page history and authors); foremost (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); foremost (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); પ્રમુખ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଧୁରନ୍ଧର (Odia) (page history and authors); अग्र (Sanskrit) (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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Cite this entry: “foremost.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/foremost. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.