First vs Initial - What's the difference?
first | initial |
Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.
* 1784 : William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. ,
Before anything else; firstly.
* , chapter=8
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.
* 1699 , ,
(uncountable) The first gear of an engine.
(countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
(countable, baseball) first base
(countable, British, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.
(countable, colloquial) A first-edition copy of some publication.
A fraction of an integer ending in one.
Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.
:
:
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word.
:
*
*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial , a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
The first letter of a word or a name.
In plural, the first letter of each word of a person's full name considered as a unit
(typesetting, calligraphy) A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.
(phonology) onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology.
To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.
As adjectives the difference between first and initial
is that first is preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest while initial is chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.As nouns the difference between first and initial
is that first is the person or thing in the first position while initial is the first letter of a word or a name.As an adverb first
is before anything else; firstly.As a verb initial is
to sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.first
English
(wikipedia first)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), .Alternative forms
* firste (archaic) * fyrst (obsolete) * fyrste (obsolete)Adjective
(-)Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
PREFACE
- THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
Alternative forms
* ; (in names of monarchs and popes) IAdverb
(-)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.}}
Unspontaneous combustion, passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.}}
Noun
Heads designed for an essay on conversations
- Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
Derived terms
* feet first * firstborn * first-class * first gear * first imperative (Latin grammar) * first of all * first place * first things first * first upSee also
* primaryEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), (m), . See also (l).Statistics
*initial
English
(wikipedia initial)Adjective
(-)citation, passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}
Synonyms
* incipient * openingAntonyms
* finalDerived terms
* initially * initialnessNoun
(en noun)- You can get your initials printed at the top.
Synonyms
* drop cap, versalDerived terms
* initialism * initial teaching alphabetVerb
- Please initial each page and sign the contract in full at the bottom.