early on

adverb

: at or during an early point or stage

the reasons were obvious early on in the experiment

Using Early on: Usage Guide

This adverb is sometimes objected to in American writing as an obtrusive Briticism. It is a relative newcomer to the language, having arisen in British English around 1928. It seems to have filled a need, however. It came into frequent use in American English in the late 1960s and is now well established on both sides of the Atlantic in both speech and writing.

Examples of early on in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Police alleged that Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent, drove a vehicle into a crowd outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue early on Thursday. —Morgan Winsor, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2025

My dad’s dear friend and agent, Tor Belfrage, put us in touch with them early on. —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 2 Oct. 2025

Winnipeg likely has an internal walk-away price for Connor’s contract, whereas Minnesota established early on that no NHL team would outbid it for Kaprizov. —Murat Ates, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025

Planet Earth, this early on, likely has a volatile early atmosphere, dominated by hydrogen, helium, water vapor, ammonia, and methane. —Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 2 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1759, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for early on

• aileron
• antiphon
• autobahn
• carillon
• castellan
• celadon
• cephalon
• chitosan
• cynodon
• denouement
• deuteron
• echelon

Kids Definition

early on

adverb

: at or during an early point or stage

had decided early on not to accept