foremost
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of foremost
before 1000; fore 1 + -most; replacing Middle English, Old English formest, equivalent to form ( a ) first, variant of fruma (compare Latin prīmus ) + -est -est 1
Explanation
Foremost is an adjective that means holding the highest position or rank. When naming advisors, presidents usually search for the foremost experts on various subjects. If you are the foremost in your profession, you're the expert people will seek out for an opinion. If your foremost concern in a project is money, all other factors are secondary. You can also use this word as an adverb meaning "before anything else." The film, Gone With the Wind, is set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, but first and foremost, it is a love story.
Vocabulary lists containing foremost
Power Prefix: fore-
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Achievement First 8th Grade IA 1 Words
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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.
Mr. Auslin stresses that it came to be seen “as a defense first and foremost of individual rights.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
"First and foremost, I'm so grateful that only two officers have suffered serious injury," he told BBC Scotland News.
From BBC • May 17, 2026
It’s not trivializing this summit or missing the point, I would argue, to understand it as first and foremost a semiotic spectacle, conducted through language, symbols and signifiers.
From Salon • May 17, 2026
There was also a flood of earnings from some of the foremost players in tech.
From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026
The height of the thing was but one element of its magnificence, and not even the foremost.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
