in the first place
UK/ɪn ðə ˈfɜːst pleɪs//ɪn ðə ˈfɝst pleɪs/
in the first place prepositional phrase: to begin with; earlier; firstly; originally; at the start.
Prepositional phrase
- To begin with; earlier; firstly; originally; at the start.
- The question is not whether I still enjoy the job, when I never enjoyed it in the first place.
- At all, even (typically in non-negated statements).
- Why does this exist in the first place?
in the first place meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Thai
in the first place in Tamil
- to begin with
- முதலில் mutalil
in the first place in Thai
- to begin with
- ตั้งแต่แรก, ก่อนอื่น
Questions about in the first place
- What does in the first place mean?
- In the first place means to begin with; earlier; firstly; originally; at the start.
- What is in the first place in Tamil?
- In the first place in Tamil is முதலில் (mutalil). See In the first place meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is in the first place?
- In the first place is a prepositional phrase.
- How do you pronounce in the first place?
- In the first place is pronounced /ɪn ðə ˈfɜːst pleɪs/ (UK).
Words near in the first place in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: in the first place (page history and authors); in the first place (Urdu Wiktionary) (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: en-us-in the first place.ogg, en-au-in the first place.ogg.
Cite this entry: “in the first place.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/in_the_first_place. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.