early on

adverb

|Updated on: 16 Jun 2018

Definition of early on

: at or during an early point or stage

the reasons were obvious early on in the experiment

Using early on

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.

Recent Examples of early on from the Web

By contrast, McSally, whose interest in the Senate was clear early on, averaged $195,000 per month in the same span.

— yvonne wingett sanchez, azcentral, "Kelli Ward may have missed her shot in the GOP primary for Senate. Here's why," 11 June 2018
Unable to solve the off-speed array of James Shields early on, the Brewers managed a lone run over the first six innings.

— todd rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Brewers 5, White Sox 0: Late power surge seals victory," 2 June 2018
No compatible source was found for this media. Advertisement X Garcia is a a far cry from the pitcher who dazzled early on, ending April with a 1.00 ERA, second only to the 0.84 ERA put up the first month by Johnny Cueto of the Giants.

— clark spencer, miamiherald, "'Jarlin the Marlin' has gone from great to bad in one month's time," 2 June 2018
Though everything from fancy eateries to convenience stores is on China’s main food-delivery apps, HEYTEA stayed off them early on (the firm’s first shops were in a handful of second-tier cities in southern Guangdong in 2012).

— The Economist, "HEYTEA wants to make tea-drinking cool again in China," 31 May 2018
The visiting Lions had trailed 3-0 and 6-3 early on before battling back to tie the score on two different occasions.

— brent kennedy, Howard County Times, "Howard softball walks off against Dulaney in 4A North region quarterfinals," 14 May 2018
The area went for Trump pretty easily in 2016, but early on, the district’s rating went from Solid Republican to Likely Republican.

— tara golshan, Vox, "North Carolina primary elections: live results for key House races," 8 May 2018
Atlético were at a disadvantage from early on, when defender Šime Vrsaljko was shown a red card after picking up two bookings just nine minutes into the match.

— SI.com, "Atlético Madrid vs Arsenal Preview: Previous Encounter, Key Battle, Team News & More," 2 May 2018
At least early on in the draft process, some of the Browns evaluators loved Mayfield, including consultant Scot McCloughan.

— mary kay cabot, cleveland.com, "Would the Browns draft someone other than Sam Darnold or Josh Allen at 1? Hey, Mary Kay!," 15 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'early on.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.