in the first place

idiom

1

—used at the end of a sentence to indicate what was true or what should have been done at the beginning of a situation

We should never have gone there in the first place.

I didn't care much for the job in the first place.

2

—used when listing the most important parts of something or the most important reasons for something

I'm not going to tell you because, in the first place, it's none of your business, and in the second place, you would tell everyone else.

Examples of in the first place in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

How to deal with anxiety around sunset Combatting icky feelings at sundown will depend on what’s causing them in the first place. —Lauren Mazzo, SELF, 16 Oct. 2024

Wanting to really chase that simplicity again and just get back to the reason of why my fans fell in love with me in the first place. —Steve Baltin, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024

The removal of this growth lid is crucial to Wells Fargo’s turnaround story and a big reason why the Club invested in the stock in the first place. —Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2024

Apparently, the airline is also reviewing the specific process of how the movie was selected in the first place. —Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 11 Oct. 2024