initially
adverb
ini·tial·ly
i-ˈni-sh(ə-)lē 
: at the beginning : at first
The reason I initially came here was to find work.
It turned out that the situation was not as serious as we had initially believed.
Initially, the symptoms are mild.
Examples of initially in a Sentence
we initially intended to rebuild our hurricane-damaged home from the ground up
Recent Examples on the Web
The video was initially posted on Facebook on July 27.
—
Kevin Grasha, The Enquirer, 2 Aug. 2025
For the Forest case, the league agreed to pay the firm £1.1m, but that was reduced to £985,000 because Linklaters did not need to put in quite as many hours as initially estimated.
—Matt Slater, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2025
Los Padres National Forest & Santa Barbara County Fire
Fire type: Wildfire
Fire name: Gifford Fire
Gifford Fire initially started today at 3:44 p.m. in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara County, California.
—Ca Wildfire Bot, Sacbee.com, 2 Aug. 2025
Republicans had initially planned to advance the annual appropriations bills shortly after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law; however, the swift introduction of a $9 billion rescissions package triggered weeks of delay.
—Samantha-Jo Roth, The Washington Examiner, 2 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for initially
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Kevin Grasha, The Enquirer, 2 Aug. 2025
For the Forest case, the league agreed to pay the firm £1.1m, but that was reduced to £985,000 because Linklaters did not need to put in quite as many hours as initially estimated.
—Matt Slater, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2025
Los Padres National Forest & Santa Barbara County Fire
Fire type: Wildfire
Fire name: Gifford Fire
Gifford Fire initially started today at 3:44 p.m. in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara County, California.
—Ca Wildfire Bot, Sacbee.com, 2 Aug. 2025
Republicans had initially planned to advance the annual appropriations bills shortly after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law; however, the swift introduction of a $9 billion rescissions package triggered weeks of delay.
—Samantha-Jo Roth, The Washington Examiner, 2 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for initially
Cite this Entry
“Initially.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/initially. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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