in the first place
To begin with; earlier; firstly; originally; at the startTo begin with; earlier; firstly; originally; at the start.
» I never wanted Tom here in the first place.
Ich wollte Tom von Anfang an nicht hier haben. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
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7 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Examples
87 sentencesI never wanted Tom here in the first place.
deIch wollte Tom von Anfang an nicht hier haben. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Why didn't you say that in the first place?
I didn't want to be here in the first place.
deIch wollte hier überhaupt nicht sein. — raggione
Meaning
2 senses(idiomatic, sequence)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.
erstens, an erster Stelle, überhaupt erst
в пе́рвую о́чередьv pérvuju óčeredʹ, пре́жде всего́préžde vsevó, пе́рвым де́ломpérvym délom
(idiomatic)At all, even (typically in non-negated statements).
Why does this exist in the first place?
Word family
1 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.