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

But this requires humans to maintain and develop those strengths in the first place. —Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes.com, 12 Sep. 2025

Her biggest oversight was not to have imagined that Cherry — the threat to her family life in the first place, a person capable of throwing an innocent cat out the window — could, and would, out-psycho her. —Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2025

Six people charged in connection to students’ deaths weren’t supposed to have guns in the first place because of prior criminal convictions. —David Clarey, jsonline.com, 10 Sep. 2025

If the plan went ahead, the waves that drew Chouinard to Ventura in the first place could be gone. —David Gelles, Time, 9 Sep. 2025

Rhymes for in the first place

• aromatase
• hydrogenase
• nitrogenase
• oligoclase
• oxygenase
• plagioclase
• polymerase
• streptokinase
• triphosphatase
• abase
• airspace
• apace