at first

English

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

at first

1. (idiomatic) Initially; at the start.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.

   If at first you don't succeed, do it like your father told you.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:initially

Translations

initially; at the start

• Armenian: նախ (hy) (nax), սկզբում (skzbum)
• Bashkir: тәүҙә (təwźə), башта (başta), алда (alda), алдан (aldan), борон (boron), элек (elek)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 起初 (zh) (qǐchū)

• Czech: zpočátku, nejprve (cs)
• Dutch: aanvankelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: unue
• Finnish: ensin (fi), ensiksi (fi), ensi alkuun
• French: d’abord (fr)
• German: zuerst (de), zunächst (de), anfänglich (de)
• Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית (he) (bereshít), תְּחִלָּה (tḥilá)
• Hungarian: először (hu), eleinte (hu), kezdetben (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ar dtús, i dtosach

  Old Irish: i tosuch

• Italian: dapprima
• Japanese: 始めは (ja) (はじめは, hajime-wa)
• Lao: ທີ່ຕົ້ນ (thī ton)
• Latin: primitus, primum (la)
• Polish: z początku
• Portuguese: a princípio
• Russian: снача́ла (ru) (snačála), сперва́ (ru) (spervá), понача́лу (ru) (ponačálu), пре́жде (ru) (préžde)
• Scottish Gaelic: an toiseach, sa chiad dol a-mach
• Spanish: al principio
• Swedish: först (sv), till en början