Dictionary Definition
early adj
1 at or near the beginning of a period of time or
course of events or before the usual or expected time; "early
morning"; "an early warning"; "early diagnosis"; "an early death";
"took early retirement"; "an early spring"; "early varieties of
peas and tomatoes mature before most standard varieties" [ant:
middle, late]
2 being or occurring at an early stage of
development; "in an early stage"; "early forms of life"; "early
man"; "an early computer" [ant: late]
3 of the distant past; "the early inhabitants of
Europe"; "former generations"; "in other times" [syn: early(a), former(a),
other(a)]
4 very young; "at an early age"
5 of an early stage in the development of a
language or literature; "the Early Hebrew alphabetical script is
that used mainly from the 11th to the 6th centuries B.C."; "Early
Modern English is represented in documents printed from 1476 to
1700" [ant: middle,
late]
6 expected in the near future; "look for an early
end to the negotiations" adv
1 during an early stage; "early on in her career"
[syn: early
on]
2 before the usual time or the time expected;
"she graduated early"; "the house was completed ahead of time"
[syn: ahead of
time, too soon] [ant:
late]
3 in good time; "he awoke betimes that morning"
[syn: betimes] [also:
earliest, earlier]earlier adj :
(comparative and superlative of `early') more early than; most
early; "a fashion popular in earlier times"; "his earlier work
reflects the influence of his teacher"; "Verdi's earliest and most
raucous opera" [syn: earliest] adv
1 earlier in time; previously; "I had known her
before"; "as I said before"; "he called me the day before but your
call had come even earlier"; "her parents had died four years
earlier"; "I mentioned that problem earlier" [syn: before]
2 comparatives of `soon' or `early'; "Come a
little sooner, if you can"; "came earlier than I expected" [syn:
sooner]
3 before now; "why didn't you tell me in the
first place?" [syn: in the
first place, in the
beginning, to begin
with, originally]earlier See
early
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
Adjective
earlier- comparative of early
- occurring previously
- I shall be late because I missed the earlier train.
Translations
comparative of early
- Finnish: aiempi, aikaisempi
occurring previously
- Finnish: aiempi, aikaisempi
Adverb
earlier- comparative of early
- previously;
before
now; sooner
- I shall be late because I didn't start earlier.
Translations
comparitive of early and of soon
- Finnish: aikaisemmin, aiemmin
previously; before now; sooner
- Finnish: aikaisemmin, aiemmin
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
aforetime, already, antecedent, anterior, anticipatory, as yet,
before, before all,
before now, beforehand, beforetime, ci-devant,
down, early, elder, ere, ere then, erenow, erewhile, erst, erstwhile, first, fore, foregoing, former, formerly, heretofore, historically, hitherto, in the past, in times
past, inferior,
lower, lowest, nether, older, once, only yesterday, or ever,
preceding, precurrent, preexistent, prehistorically,
previous, previously, prime, prior, priorly, recently, senior, so far, sooner, subjacent, then, theretofore, thus far,
under, whilom, yesterday, yet