in the first place
551
3.4
- idiom
:
en primer lugar
- Remember why you started it in the first place and stay in touch with that.
- in the first place, it means
- write in the first place
- together in the first place
So yes, mine wasn't legal in the first place.
- So yes, mine wasn't legal in the first place.
- But that requires empathy in the first place.
- He shouldn't have been in prison in the first place.
- So that's, that's creating those brain pathways in the first place.
- You know, Well, it's it's much better not to get it wrong in the first place.
- But did we not invade their space by laying down the crop fields in the first place?
- And those are ingredients which will help prevent the pores from getting clogged in the first place.
- It's thanks to JWST that's made this discovery possible in the first place.
- But if he loved you so much, he wouldn't want to overburden you in the first place, you know what I'm saying?
- They completely forget all the reasons they wanted to break up in the first place.
- And, well, it's a good question, which is why are emoji in there in the first place?
- The best way not to be caught up in endless war is to avoid starting one in the first place.
- Now person A is also angry at Person B for having gotten angry at them in the first place.
- And it helped me to actually focus on really, I suppose, what makes life most worthwhile in the first place.
Examples
-
Well, it was none of your business in the first place.
-
You never wanted to be married in the first place.
-
Did you ever ask her why she took this job in the first place?
-
How did you get in here in the first place?!
-
I'm the one who talked you out of killing him in the first place, remember?
-
"I wish I'd never supported you in the first place," he said.
Fiction book (1991) -
I don't understand why a man like you took the job in the first place.
-
I can't even remember why I wanted to do it in the first place.
Fiction book (1990) -
In the first place, they'll never indict us.
-
You should always remember your goals in the first place before making a decision.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Before anything else or at the beginning
890
1.0
To say the first or most important point at the start of a talk
274
2.3
At the start before anything else happens
77
2.8
To say something before you do anything else
50
1.0
To give the first reason or point in a list
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to begin with' or 'originally' is transparently derived from the constituents: 'in' (at/within) + 'the first place' (the initial position/time), so a learner can infer the discourse sense as referring to the initial reason or situation. This compositional structure is common cross-linguistically (e.g. Spanish 'en primer lugar'), so an average B1 learner who knows the component words would very likely grasp the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
In the first place may come from the simple image of a list or a race: the first place is the original or top position. So, the phrase points to the 'main reason' or the 'original situation' for something.