EARLIEST

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does earliest mean? 

• EARLIEST (adjective)
  The adjective EARLIEST has 1 sense:

1. (comparative and superlative of 'early') more early than; most early

  Familiarity information: EARLIEST used as an adjective is very rare.

• EARLIEST (adverb)
  The adverb EARLIEST has 1 sense:

1. with the least delay

  Familiarity information: EARLIEST used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EARLIEST (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(comparative and superlative of 'early') more early than; most early

Synonyms:

earlier; earliest

Context example:

Verdi's earliest and most raucous opera

Similar:

early (at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time)

Domain usage:

comparative; comparative degree (the comparative form of an adjective or adverb)

• EARLIEST (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With the least delay

Synonyms:

earliest; soonest

Context example:

the soonest I can arrive is 3 P.M.

 Context examples 

The 900m-wide Ryugu asteroid, formally known as 162173, is thought to be a relic from the earliest days of our solar system.

(First Ever Video of Asteroid Sent Back to Earth by Japanese Rovers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I cannot so completely penetrate the mystery of my own heart, as to know when I began to think that I might have set its earliest and brightest hopes on Agnes.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I put it down myself to her making a violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The earliest non-mammalian synapsids had fewer regions than living mammals.

(What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists, National Science Foundation)

Scientists have long wondered what the earliest dinosaur relatives looked like.

(Scientists discover fossil of dinosaur ancestor with surprising croc-like appearance, NSF)

Decades of research suggest that neutrophils are some of the earliest immune cells to respond to a hemorrhage, and that they may both harm and heal the brain.

(Immune cells may heal bleeding brain after strokes, National Institutes of Health)

In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey side.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You cannot effect an arrest until to-morrow night at the earliest.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alcohol can disrupt fetal development at any stage during pregnancy, even the earliest stages before a woman knows she is pregnant.

(Using both marijuana and alcohol during early pregnancy may increase the likelihood of disrupting fetal development, National Institutes of Health)

Hiccups begin in the womb at just nine weeks gestational age, making them one of the earliest established patterns of activity.

(Baby Hiccups Key to Brain Development, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)