premier

See also: Premier and premiér

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French premier (adjective), from Latin prīmārius. Doublet of primary.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛ.mi.ɛː/, /ˈpɹɛm.jɛː/, /ˈpɹɛ.mi.ə/, /ˈpɹɛm.jə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈmɪəɹ/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹimjɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹemjə/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Adjective

premier (not comparable)

1. Foremost; first or highest in quality or degree.
   • 2004, Philip Moore, Scouting an Anthropology of Sport, Anthropologica, Volume 46, Number 1, Canadian Anthropology Society, page 40,

     This failure, for a team associated with one of the premier Australian Rules Football teams with the longest of traditions, is truly enormous.

   • 2011, Kate Askew, Dot. Bomb Australia, Read How You Want, page 70,

     If they′d followed the advice they had received more carefully, they would have paired up with John Fairfax Holdings, later Fairfax Media, Australia′s premier independent media company.

   • 2011, Pippa de Bruyn, Keith Bain, Frommer′s South Africa, 7th Edition, unnumbered page,

     South Africa′s golfing greats battle it out on one of the country′s premier courses.

2. (heraldry) Most ancient.

Translations

foremost, very first or very highest in quality or degree

• Bulgarian: главен (bg) (glaven), старши (bg) (starši)
• Czech: přední (cs)
• Finnish: tärkein (fi), johtava (fi)
• French: premier (fr) m, première (fr) f
• Interlingua: prime
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} primeiro (pt)

• Russian: пе́рвый (ru) (pérvyj), перве́йший (ru) (pervéjšij), передово́й (ru) (peredovój), выдаю́щийся (ru) (vydajúščijsja)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} vynikajúci m
• Spanish: primero (es), principal (es)
• Swedish: först (sv), förnämst (sv), främst (sv)

See also

• preeminent, primary, prime

Noun

premier (plural premiers)

1. (politics, Britain, Westminster system) The head of government in parliament and leader of the cabinet.
   1. (politics, UK parliament) The prime minister.
      • 1871 July 29, “Our Tyrant”, The Spectator, Volume 303, Issues 9308-9315, page 910,

        Mr. Gladstone had literally no option. Not to coerce the Lords was to coerce the Commons to continue purchase in spite of their repeated votes for its abolition, and this the Premier had as little the power as the will to do.

   2. (politics, Australia, Canada, South Africa) The leader of a state or provincial government and cabinet.
      • 1974, Irving M. Abella, On Strike; Six Key Labour Struggles in Canada, 1919-1949, page 96,

        More surprising than the company′s activities and interests were those of the premier of Ontario, Mitchell Hepburn.

      • 1986, R. Kenneth Carty, National Politics and Community in Canada, page 116,

        The major concern of most of the premiers who attended the 1887 conference was, as Macdonald well understood, to put pressure upoon Ottawa to amend the B.N.A. Act to increase the subsidies paid to the provinces by tying them to current population levels rather than those of 1860.

      • 2007, Patrick Moray Weller, Cabinet Government in Australia, 1901-2006: Practice, Principles, Performance, page 1,

        John Forrest had dominated the fledgling state of Western Australia, serving as premier for the previous decade.

      • 2009, Andrew Stewart, John Spoehr (editor), Chapter 16: Industrial Relations, State of South Australia: From Crisis to Prosperity?, page 302,

        In 1890 it was South Australian Premier Charles Cameron Kingston who first proposed a system of compulsory conciliation and arbitration to deal with industrial unrest.

      • 2011, Jennifer Curtin, Marian Sawer, 4: Oceania, Gretchen Bauer, Manon Tremblay (editors), Women in Executive Power: A Global Overview, page 56,

        In 2009 Kristina Keneally became Labor premier in NSW in similar circumstances to her predecessors in Western Australia and Victoria - a Labor government that was in deep trouble because of mismanagement and corruption scandals.

2. (politics, non-Westminster) The government leader in a legislative congress or leader of a government-level administrative body; the head of government.
   • 1983, Guo Zhou, China & the World, Volume 4, Beijing Review, page 13,

     This shows that our policy of strengthening friendly ties with Africa as developed by Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai is a correct one and that it has won popular support in Africa.

   • 1998, The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 16, page 61,

     Actual decision-making power in China resides in the state′s executive organs and in the CCP. At the national level the top government executive organ is the State Council, which is led by the premier.

   • 2008, Steffen W. Schmidt, Mack C. Shelley, Barbara A. Bardes, American Government & Politics Today, page 470,

     So, in the case of Russia and some other states, the head of state is the president (who is elected) and who then can name the premier and the cabinet ministers. The intent of this system is for the president to be popularly elected and to exercise political leadership, while the premier runs the everyday operations of government and leads the legislative power.

3. (nautical, slang) The first lieutenant or other second-in-command officer of a ship.
4. (Australia, sporting) The champion team of a particular season (especially as used in Australian rules football).

Usage notes

Often capitalised, especially when used as a title. In British English, prime minister and premier are interchangeable, while in Australia and Canada, the federal leader is the prime minister and the state/provincial leaders are premiers. The term prime minister is commonly a synonym also in non-Westminster system contexts

Synonyms

• (parliamentary leader of government and leader of cabinet in a national parliament): prime minister, first minister
• (parliamentary leader of government and leader of cabinet in a state or provincial parliament): first minister
• (head of government in a non-Westminster system): prime minister
• (second-in-command on a ship): first lieutenant, first mate

Translations

prime minister of a country — see prime minister

Australia, Canada: head of a state or provincial government

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 省長, 省长 (saang² zoeng²) (provincial), 州長, 州长 (zau¹ zoeng²) (state)

  Mandarin: 省長 (zh), 省长 (zh) (shěngzhǎng) (provincial), 州長 (zh), 州长 (zh) (zhōuzhǎng) (state)

• Esperanto: ĉefministro, ministroprezidanto, premiero

• Finnish: osavaltion pääministeri, provinssin pääministeri
• French: premier ministre (fr) m
• Macedonian: премие́р m (premiér)
• Russian: премье́р (ru) m (premʹjér), премье́р-мини́стр (ru) m (premʹjér-minístr)

nautical slang: the second-in-command officer of a ship

• Bulgarian: втори офицер (vtori oficer)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} Ministerpräzident m

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} statsminister (sv) c

See also

• premiere
• king, queen, president
• governor
• first minister

Verb

premier (third-person singular simple present premiers, present participle premiering, simple past and past participle premiered)

1. To perform, display or exhibit for the first time.

   The composer invited all his friends when they premiered the movie he orchestrated, we got to see it before anyone but the crew.

   • 1998, John Herschel Baron, Intimate Music: A History of the Idea of Chamber Music, page 231,

     Beethoven at first promised Schuppanzigh the right to premier Opus 127, but Linke, cellist in Schuppanzigh′s Quartet, had also received Beethoven′s permission to premier the work at a special benefit concert for himself.

   • 2000, W. Royal Stokes, Living the Jazz Life: Conversations With Forty Musicians About Their Careers in Jazz, page 97,

     So what I want to do is try to premier the new piece with the other piece, and have just a big splash in the city.

   • 2010, Murry R. Nelson, The Rolling Stones: A Musical Biography, page 56,

     To premier the record and to show that they were still able to perform, the Stones made a surprise appearance at the New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert on May 12 in Wembley Stadium.

2. To govern in the role of premier.

Anagrams

• reprime

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Dutch

Etymology

Shortening of premier minister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prəˈmjeː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧mier
• Rhymes: -eː

Noun

premier m (plural premiers, diminutive premiertje n)

1. prime minister

   Synonym: minister-president

Derived terms

• premierbonus
• premierschap

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French

French numbers ^(edit)

	10
←  0	1	2  → [a], [b]
Cardinal: un     Ordinal: premier     Multiplier: simple

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation, in general) 1^er m, 1^re or 1^ère f
• (abbreviation, after names) I

Etymology

From Middle French premier, from Old French premier, from Latin prīmārius. Doublet of primaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁə.mje/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

premier (feminine singular première, masculine plural premiers, feminine plural premières)

1. first

   Le premier élément de la liste est un zéro.

   The first element of the list is zero.

2. prime (number etc)

Derived terms

• à première vue
• au premier abord
• au premier chef
• dans un premier temps
• de première
• du premier coup
• en premier lieu
• être aux premières loges
• faire le premier pas
• jeune premier
• joueur de premier but
• la tête la première
• matière première
• nombre premier
• premier arrivé, premier servi
• premier but
• premier degré
• première base
• première classe
• première fois
• Première Guerre mondiale
• première ministre
• première personne
• première pierre
• premier jet
• premier ministre
• premier plan
• premiers entre eux
• premiers secours
• premiers soins
• premier venu
• premier violon
• se moquer comme de sa première chemise de

 

Noun

premier m (plural premiers, feminine première)

1. first

   Il est le premier.

   He is the first.

2. premier
3. prime minister

Adverb

premier

1. first

   Il joue premier

   he is playing first

Further reading

• “premier” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• empirer, réprime, réprimé

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Hungarian

Alternative forms

• prömier (nonstandard)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈprɛmijɛr]
• Hyphenation: pre‧mi‧er
• Rhymes: -ɛr

Noun

premier (plural premierek)

1. premiere (the first showing of a film, play or other form of entertainment)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	premier	premierek
accusative	premiert	premiereket
dative	premiernek	premiereknek
instrumental	premierrel	premierekkel
causal-final	premierért	premierekért
translative	premierré	premierekké
terminative	premierig	premierekig
essive-formal	premierként	premierekként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	premierben	premierekben
superessive	premieren	premiereken
adessive	premiernél	premiereknél
illative	premierbe	premierekbe
sublative	premierre	premierekre
allative	premierhez	premierekhez
elative	premierből	premierekből
delative	premierről	premierekről
ablative	premiertől	premierektől
non-attributive possessive - singular	premieré	premiereké
non-attributive possessive - plural	premieréi	premierekéi

Possessive forms of premier
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	premierem	premierjeim
2nd person sing.	premiered	premierjeid
3rd person sing.	premierje	premierjei
1st person plural	premierünk	premierjeink
2nd person plural	premieretek	premierjeitek
3rd person plural	premierjük	premierjeik

Derived terms

• filmpremier

Further reading

• premier in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

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Italian

Etymology

From English or French premier. Doublet of primario.

Noun

premier m or f (invariable)

1. premier, prime minister (or similar title)

Derived terms

• vicepremier

Anagrams

• reprime

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French premier, from Latin primarius.

Adjective

premier m (feminine singular premiere, masculine plural premiers, feminine plural premieres)

1. first (ordinal number)

Descendants

• French: premier

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

premier m

1. indefinite plural of premie

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Old French

Alternative forms

• premer
• primer
• primur

Etymology

From Latin prīmārius.

Adjective

premier m (oblique and nominative feminine singular premiere)

1. first

Declension

Declension of premier

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	premiers	premiere	premier
	Oblique	premier	premiere	premier
Plural	Subject	premier	premieres	premier
	Oblique	premiers	premieres	premier

Derived terms

• premierement

Adverb

premier

1. first

Noun

premier m (oblique plural premiers, nominative singular premiers, nominative plural premier)

1. first

   saver ke le tenant fut le primer ke entra

   to know that the tenant was the first who entered

2. beginning; start

Descendants

• Middle French: premier
  • French: premier
  • → English: premier
• Norman: preunmyi

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Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French premier (“first”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɛ.mʲɛr/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

premier m pers

1. prime minister

Declension

declension of premier

	singular	plural
nominative	premier	premierzy
genitive	premiera	premierów
dative	premierowi	premierom
accusative	premiera	premierów
instrumental	premierem	premierami
locative	premierze	premierach
vocative	premierze	premierzy

Noun

premier f

1. genitive plural of premiera

Further reading

• premier in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Romanian

Etymology

From French premier.

Noun

premier m (plural premieri)

1. prime minister

Declension

Declension of premier

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) premier	premierul	(niște) premieri	premierii
genitive/dative	(unui) premier	premierului	(unor) premieri	premierilor
vocative	premierule		premierilor

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French premier (literally “first”).

Noun

premier m or f (plural premieres)

1. premier (head of government)

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Swedish

Noun

premier

1. indefinite plural of premie

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Tatar

Noun

premier

1. Latin spelling of премьер (prem’yer)