FIRST CLASS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does first class mean? 

• FIRST CLASS (noun)
  The noun FIRST CLASS has 3 senses:

1. the highest rank in a classification

2. mail that includes letters and postcards and packages sealed against inspection

3. the most expensive accommodations on a ship or train or plane

  Familiarity information: FIRST CLASS used as a noun is uncommon.

• FIRST CLASS (adverb)
  The adverb FIRST CLASS has 1 sense:

1. by first class conveyance; with first class accommodations

  Familiarity information: FIRST CLASS used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FIRST CLASS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The highest rank in a classification

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("first class" is a kind of...):

high quality; superiority (the quality of being superior)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Mail that includes letters and postcards and packages sealed against inspection

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

1st-class mail; 1st class; first-class mail; first class

Hypernyms ("first class" is a kind of...):

mail (the bags of letters and packages that are transported by the postal service)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "first class"):

correspondence (communication by the exchange of letters)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The most expensive accommodations on a ship or train or plane

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("first class" is a kind of...):

accommodation (living quarters provided for public convenience)

• FIRST CLASS (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

By first class conveyance; with first class accommodations

Context example:

we always travel first class

 Context examples 

It was the first time in his life that Martin had travelled first class.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Miss Miller approaching, seemed to ask her a question, and having received her answer, went back to her place, and said aloud—Monitor of the first class, fetch the globes!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr Hayter had some property of his own, but it was insignificant compared with Mr Musgrove's; and while the Musgroves were in the first class of society in the country, the young Hayters would, from their parents' inferior, retired, and unpolished way of living, and their own defective education, have been hardly in any class at all, but for their connexion with Uppercross, this eldest son of course excepted, who had chosen to be a scholar and a gentleman, and who was very superior in cultivation and manners to all the rest.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

She has the reputation of being remarkably sensible and clever; but I rather believe she derives part of her abilities from her rank and fortune, part from her authoritative manner, and the rest from the pride for her nephew, who chooses that everyone connected with him should have an understanding of the first class.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The Youth's Companion was certainly first class, and at that rate the three thousand words he had written that day would bring him sixty dollars—two months' wages on the sea!

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In time I rose to be the first girl of the first class; then I was invested with the office of teacher; which I discharged with zeal for two years: but at the end of that time I altered.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Miss Temple passed her handkerchief over her lips, as if to smooth away the involuntary smile that curled them; she gave the order, however, and when the first class could take in what was required of them, they obeyed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The superintendent of Lowood (for such was this lady) having taken her seat before a pair of globes placed on one of the tables, summoned the first class round her, and commenced giving a lesson on geography; the lower classes were called by the teachers: repetitions in history, grammar, &c., went on for an hour; writing and arithmetic succeeded, and music lessons were given by Miss Temple to some of the elder girls.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I saw a universal manifestation of discontent when the fumes of the repast met the nostrils of those destined to swallow it; from the van of the procession, the tall girls of the first class, rose the whispered words—Disgusting! The porridge is burnt again!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)