to leave early
66
1.0
- phrasal verb
- She decided to leave early from the party because she was tired.
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Watch on YouTubeAnd I always leave early to leave room for getting lost.
- And I always leave early to leave room for getting lost.
- What does it mean to start a scene late and leave early?
- OK, fair enough, but most people would leave early too if they knew that they were going home with George Clooney.
- I think you've said to start your story in the middle of things, come in late, leave early.
- I'm going to leave my house early because I lived off base and I, I left early.
- And let's face it, thanks for watching this video to the end, because you could have left early and thought you were getting out while the getting was good.
- And I left early and I went home and I just felt so compelled to do something.
- The first time she freaked out and she left early 'cause it was like, you know, small and dark and whatever.
- And if you are the centre at any kind of an event, don't be surprised for them to claim a headache or some other reason that they have to leave early.
- Like we still left early, but like we just still forgot about the time.
Examples
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You know I have to leave early this morning.
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Tomorrow, we leave early in the morning.
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And I always leave early to leave room for getting lost.
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Now, I also know that people often have to leave early, so I figure that we should get to the important bit.
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Why would you want to leave early?
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I guess I'm not fully recovered from my cold, so I left school early.
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Rostagno: He had to leave early to be with his daughter.
Fiction book (1993) -
The next morning, Tian left early; he had a lesson to give at nine o'clock.
Fiction book (1998) -
I'm leaving early tomorrow.
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I'm leaving early.
Antonyms
How Early
66
1.0
- Informal
332
2.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to depart before the expected time' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'leave' (to depart) with 'early' (before the usual time). This simple verb + adverb pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English composition rules, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Leave early comes from a simple picture: leave means to go away and early means before the usual time. Imagine someone slipping out of a meeting to catch a train; that's why it means 'to depart before the expected time'.