FIRSTLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does firstly mean? 

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

1. before anything else

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• FIRSTLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Before anything else

Synonyms:

first; first of all; first off; firstly; foremost

Context example:

first we must consider the garter snake

 Context examples 

Mrs. Crupp always called me Mr. Copperfull: firstly, no doubt, because it was not my name; and secondly, I am inclined to think, in some indistinct association with a washing-day.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Firstly, what everyone wants to know is do we already know whether electromagnetic waves are harmful?

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

Firstly, most of these early massive galaxies are strongly dominated by normal matter, with dark matter playing a much smaller role than in the Local Universe.

(Dark Matter Less Influential in Galaxies in Early Universe, ESO)

And I was quite right: depend on that: there are a thousand reasons why liaisons between governesses and tutors should never be tolerated a moment in any well-regulated house; firstly—Oh, gracious, mama!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Firstly, melatonin increased the brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass of the treated animals (the amount of good fat that uses up energy rather than storing it), which in turn reduced dangerous white visceral fat in the abdominal region.

(Study confirms melatonin helps burn calories and curbs weight gain, University of Granada)

Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, firstly, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; secondly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, thirdly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Firstly, on account of its being so well worth seeing, and our never having seen it; and secondly, on account of the great probability of something turning up in a cathedral town.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The new face, too, was like a new picture introduced to the gallery of memory; and it was dissimilar to all the others hanging there: firstly, because it was masculine; and, secondly, because it was dark, strong, and stern.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The only changes I am conscious of are, firstly, that I had grown more shabby, and secondly, that I was now relieved of much of the weight of Mr. and Mrs. Micawber's cares; for some relatives or friends had engaged to help them at their present pass, and they lived more comfortably in the prison than they had lived for a long while out of it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Finding by degrees, however, that I was sober, and (I hope) that I was a modest young gentleman, Mrs. Waterbrook softened towards me considerably, and inquired, firstly, if I went much into the parks, and secondly, if I went much into society.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)