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first-generation

American  
[furst-jen-uh-rey-shuhn] / ˈfɜrstˌdʒɛn əˈreɪ ʃən /

adjective

  1. being the first generation of a family to be born in a particular country.

  2. being a naturalized citizen of a particular country; immigrant.

    the child of first-generation Americans.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

To train the first generation of large language models, AI developers already identified and extracted most major readily available sources of the world’s data.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

Toby Ojo, a first generation Nigerian American, has a dream of attending Stanford.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

We are the first generation on either side of our families to experience this level of success, and we are unsure of our next steps.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 6, 2026

"This is really the first generation of parents who've had to do this kind of work."

From BBC • Jan. 31, 2026

For the first generation, the new science was all in the mind; for the second, it was simply a language-game.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton