first and foremost

Idioms and Phrases

Also, first of all . Most important, primarily; also, to begin with. For example, First and foremost, I want to thank our sponsors , or What we need, first and foremost, is a new secretary , or We have to deal, first of all, with the early history . The first term, dating from the late 1300s, is redundant, since first and foremost mean virtually the same thing. Both it and the variant, which dates from the mid-1500s, are used to give emphasis to the initial item in a list of several. Also see first off ; first thing .

Related Words

• basically
• chiefly
• generally
• importantly
• largely
• mostly
• notably
• particularly
• predominantly