at first

phrase

: at the beginning : initially

Examples of at first in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While Eisenman’s works are funny at first glance, a nuanced narrative, interweaving the personal and political, can usually be teased out of them. — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 29 Sep. 2026

There are so many details placed throughout the exhibits that people might miss at first glance. — Cat Cardenas, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2026

In Levittown, the cost-cutting builders at first hadn’t even bothered with tanks and had installed cesspools instead—three decades later, the suburb’s sewer system was still under construction. — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026

Thus, the relationship between gossip columnists Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper (itself the subject of George Eells’s 1971 dual biography, Hedda and Louella) was at first a symbiotic friendship and then a brutal rivalry. — Lindsey Weber, Vanity Fair, 28 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for at first

• accursed
• amerced
• cloudburst
• coerced
• conversed
• disbursed
• dispersed
• headfirst
• immersed
• outburst
• rehearsed
• reversed