| English Dictionary |
EARLY (earlier, earliest)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
, earliest Dictionary entry overview: What does early mean?
• EARLY (adjective)
The adjective EARLY has 6 senses:
1. at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time
2. being or occurring at an early stage of development
3. belonging to the distant past
4. very young
5. of an early stage in the development of a language or literature
6. expected in the near future
Familiarity information: EARLY used as an adjective is common.
• EARLY (adverb)
The adverb EARLY has 3 senses:
1. during an early stage
2. before the usual time or the time expected
3. in good time
Familiarity information: EARLY used as an adverb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: earliest
Sense 1
Meaning:
At or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time
Context example:
early varieties of peas and tomatoes mature before most standard varieties
Similar:
aboriginal; primaeval; primal; primeval; primordial (having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state)
wee (very early)
proto (indicating the first or earliest or original)
proterozoic (formed in the later of two divisions of the Precambrian era)
premature; previous (too soon or too hasty)
premature; untimely (uncommonly early or before the expected time)
earlyish (being somewhat early)
azoic (before the appearance of life)
archaeozoic; archeozoic (of or belonging to earlier of two divisions of the Precambrian era)
archaean; archean (of or relating to the earliest known rocks formed during the Precambrian Eon)
advance; beforehand (being ahead of time or need)
earlier; earliest ((comparative and superlative of 'early') more early than; most early)
Also:
first (preceding all others in time or space or degree)
Attribute:
timing (the time when something happens)
Antonym:
late (being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time)
middle (between an earlier and a later period of time)
Derivation:
earliness (quality of coming early or earlier in time)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Being or occurring at an early stage of development
Context example:
an early computer
Similar:
crude; primitive; rude (belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness)
precocious (appearing or developing early)
inchoate; incipient (only partly in existence; imperfectly formed)
embryonic; embryotic (in an early stage of development)
new; young ((of crops) harvested at an early stage of development; before complete maturity)
archaic; primitive (little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type)
Antonym:
late (at or toward an end or late period or stage of development)
Derivation:
earliness (quality of coming early or earlier in time)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Belonging to the distant past
Synonyms:
Context example:
in other times
Similar:
past (earlier than the present time; no longer current)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Very young
Context example:
at an early age
Similar:
immature; young ((used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Of an early stage in the development of a language or literature
Context example:
Early Modern English is represented in documents printed from 1476 to 1700
Similar:
Old (of a very early stage in development)
Domain category:
linguistics (the scientific study of language)
Antonym:
late (of a later stage in the development of a language or literature; used especially of dead languages)
middle (of a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages)
Derivation:
earliness (quality of coming early or earlier in time)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Expected in the near future
Context example:
look for an early end to the negotiations
Similar:
future (yet to be or coming)
Sense 1
Meaning:
During an early stage
Synonyms:
early; early on
Context example:
early on in her career
Sense 2
Meaning:
Before the usual time or the time expected
Synonyms:
ahead of time; early; too soon
Context example:
the house was completed ahead of time
Antonym:
late (later than usual or than expected)
Sense 3
Meaning:
In good time
Synonyms:
betimes; early
Context example:
he awoke betimes that morning
Context examples
There's the tea bell, we have it early on the boy's account.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The Sun arrived four days earlier, November 22, and remained until December 21, putting a spotlight on you.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
It was in the early afternoon that we started upon our journey.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As it was clear to him that he had been handicapped by his early environment, so now he perceived that she was similarly handicapped.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
And the men went early to bed, Bill first seeing to it that the dogs were tied out of gnawing-reach of one another.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
On the fourth day, venturing out early a little too far, I saw twenty or thirty natives upon a height not above five hundred yards from me.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Mr. Rochester, it seems, by the surgeon's orders, went to bed early that night; nor did he rise soon next morning.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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)
Early next morning the forester got up and went out hunting, and when he was gone the children were still in bed.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
But there was another, and an earlier, which I will now explain.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"There is no man nor thing without his defect, and often they have two or three of them" (Breton proverb)
"Have patience and you'll get what you want." (Arabic proverb)
"A good deed is worth gold." (Dutch proverb)