Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use first in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, adverb, noun

First means preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest. Example: “Hancock was first to arrive.”

Examples of first by meaning

adjectivePreceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.

  • Hancock was first to arrive.
  • The first day of September 2013 was a Sunday.
  • I was the first runner to reach the finish line, and won the race.

adjectiveMost eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.

  • Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
  • the first violinist
  • The French openings decided that satin gowns, suits, wraps and even hats were to be in first fashion this autumn.1916 September 11, Anne Rittenhouse, “Dress: One-piece Frocks of Satin in Neutral Colors, With Bits of Colored Embroidery”, in The Journal...

adjectiveOf or belonging to a first family.

  • First Cat; First Daughter; First Dog; First Son

adverbBefore anything else; firstly.

  • Clean the sink first, before you even think of starting to cook.
  • I plunged nose first into the water.
  • The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

adverbFor the first time.

  • I first witnessed a death when I was nine years old.

nounThe person or thing in the first position.

  • He was the first to complete the course.

nounSomething that has never happened before; a new occurrence.

  • This is a first. For once he has nothing to say.
  • I remember other firsts: how I wussily asked her out the first time, and the first time I told her I loved her.2020, Jim Pace, Should We Fire God?

nounFirst base.

  • There was a close play at first.

More sentences with first

  • Many readers find the first book of A Tale of Two Cities to be confusing.From the entry book
  • Monday is the first day of the week in many countries of the world.From the entry day
  • The skilled trades were the first to organize modern labor unions.From the entry trade
  • She speaks English, French, and German. English is her first language.From the entry english
  • The country reached a high level of prosperity in his first term.From the entry in
  • In the first year of school, pupils are taught to recite the alphabet.From the entry alphabet
  • The fives and sixes will have a snack first, then the older kids.From the entry five
  • I'll be there in a bit; I need to take care of something first.From the entry bit
  • We really hit it off on the first date, so we decided to meet the week after.From the entry date
  • He moved to digital for the first time, using a Sony camera.From the entry digital
  • I had children too early (in life), so my first baby arrived early.From the entry early
  • In the word "careful", the accent is placed on the first syllable.From the entry accent
  • Our first win of the season put us in high spirits.From the entry win
  • Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts.From the entry stand
  • Grounds are usually put up first and the plastering floated flush with them.From the entry ground
  • First we removed all the handles; next, we stripped off the old paint.From the entry next
  • John's kind of green, so take it easy on him this first week.From the entry green
  • In his Pensées, Pascal mentioned some first principles recognized within his metaphysics: space, time, motion, and number.From the entry metaphysics
  • On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.From the entry would
  • The streamer was the first to cast footage of the new game.From the entry cast
  • In order to destroy evil, we must first acknowledge its existence.From the entry existence
  • First, second and third are the ordinal numbers corresponding to one, two and three.From the entry ordinal number
  • My sister-in-law has just become a mother for the first time.From the entry mother
  • He proposed marriage in the same restaurant, at the very table where they first met.From the entry very
  • Heartless managed the scale the first jump but fell over the second.From the entry jump

Meaning of first

  1. adjective Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.
  2. adjective Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.
  3. adjective Of or belonging to a first family.

Full definition of first

Questions about first in a sentence

How do you use first in a sentence?
First is used as an adjective, adverb and noun. For example: “Hancock was first to arrive.”
What is a short sentence with first?
“the first violinist”
What does first mean?
First means preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: first (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use first in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/first. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.