firsthand

or first-hand

[furst-hand]

See more synonyms for firsthand on Thesaurus.com

adverb

from the first or original source: We heard the news of the accident firsthand from a witness.

adjective

of or relating to the first or original source.
direct from the original source: firsthand knowledge of the riot.

Origin of firsthand

First recorded in 1690–1700; first + hand

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for first-hand

initial, authentic, prime, infant, opening, beginning, primary, pioneer, aboriginal, primitive, first, archetypal, autochthonous, early, elementary, embryonic, genuine, introductory, primeval, primordial

Examples from the Web for first-hand

Contemporary Examples of first-hand

As time progressed, her essays became a collection, and now, a first-hand look into the life of being an Ephron.
Delia Ephron Talks Her Memoir, ‘Sister, Mother, Husband, Dog’
Erin Cunningham
September 19, 2013
He did, however, see Palestine first-hand and supported the Palestinian cause once he did.
Alicia Keys: Come Visit Palestine
Maysoon Zayid
June 11, 2013
Karl Steinberg, a long-term geriatrician in Oceanside, Calif., knows this first-hand.
Online Mortality Calculator Could Change Health Care—and Our Views on Death
Josh Dzieza
January 15, 2012
And I don't know this first-hand, but some people just have to do too much in too short a period of time.
Wall Street on Wall Street
Randall Lane
September 24, 2010
A first-hand witness to such chaos, “Elle” has been married to a sex addict for years.
Can Sex-Addiction Rehab Save Tiger?
Abby Ellin
December 18, 2009

Historical Examples of first-hand

Certainly I learned less of his ways from first-hand knowledge.
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
But I fear that this war is not at all like the only war of which Howse has had any first-hand knowledge.
Good Old Anna
Marie Belloc Lowndes
Human life at first-hand had not been too plentiful with him.
Tristram of Blent
Anthony Hope
Mr. Steffens came to the subject with a first-hand knowledge of politics.
A Preface to Politics
Walter Lippmann
"I haven't any first-hand or original adventures," she declared.
The Jolliest School of All
Angela Brazil

British Dictionary definitions for first-hand

first-hand

adjective, adverb

from the original source; direct or directlyfirst-hand news; he got the news first-hand
at first hand from the original source; directly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for first-hand

firsthand

adj.

also first-hand, first hand, 1690s, from the image of the "first hand" as the source or origin of something.