Word.ws English Dictionary

on a first-name basis

on a first-name basis adverb: having enough familiarity with another person to call them by their first name, as opposed to their surname.

Adverb

on a first-name basis (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) Having enough familiarity with another person to call them by their first name, as opposed to their surname.
    • We are not yet on a first-name basis.

Synonyms of on a first-name basis

Questions about on a first-name basis

What does on a first-name basis mean?
On a first-name basis means having enough familiarity with another person to call them by their first name, as opposed to their surname.
What part of speech is on a first-name basis?
On a first-name basis is an adverb.

Words near on a first-name basis in the dictionary

  1. on a collision course
  2. on a daily basis
  3. on a day-to-day basis
  4. on a different note
  5. on a dime
  6. on a first-name basis
  7. on a full stomach
  8. on a go-slow
  9. on a good wicket
  10. on a kick
  11. on a lark

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on a first-name basis (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-au-on a first-name basis.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on a first-name basis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_a_first-name_basis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.