early | ||
1. | [ adjective ] at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time | |
Examples: | "early morning" "an early warning" "early diagnosis" "an early death" "took early retirement" "an early spring" "early varieties of tomatoes" |
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Related terms: | late middle aboriginal earlier proto matutinal previous premature proterozoic azoic archeozoic wee earlyish archean advance first timing | |
2. | [ adjective ] being or occurring at an early stage of development | |
Examples: | "in an early stage" "early forms of life" "early man" "an early computer |
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Related terms: | late crude beginning baby archaic embryo precocious incipient | |
3. | [ adverb ] during an early stage | |
Synonyms: | early_on | |
Examples: | "early on in her career" |
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4. | [ adjective ] of the distant past | |
Synonyms: | other former | |
Examples: | "the early inhabitants of Europe" "former generations" "in other times" |
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Related terms: | past | |
5. | [ adjective ] very young | |
Examples: | "at an early age" |
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Related terms: | young | |
6. | [ adverb ] before the usual time or the time expected | |
Synonyms: | too_soon ahead_of_time | |
Examples: | "she graduated early" "the house was completed ahead of time" |
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Related terms: | late | |
7. | [ adjective ] (linguistics) of an early stage in the development of a language or literature | |
Examples: | "the Early Hebrew alphabetical script is used mainly from the 11th to the 6th centuries B.C." "Early Modern English is represented in documents printed from 1476 to 1700" |
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Related terms: | late middle linguistics Old | |
8. | [ adverb ] in good time | |
Synonyms: | betimes | |
Examples: | "he awoke betimes that morning" |
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9. | [ noun ] Last name, frequency rank in the U.S. is 1994 | |
10. | [ adjective ] expected in the near future | |
Examples: | "look for an early end to the negotiations" |
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Related terms: | future | |
Similar spelling: |
earl Earley Earle Earlie |