to begin with

phrase

: as the first thing to be considered

Examples of to begin with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The reason there were so many children there to begin with was because their mothers, who worked as hawkers, had nowhere else to leave them. — Ryan Lenora Brown, Christian Science Monitor, 20 Aug. 2026

The stats aren’t great to begin with, and there’s reason to believe that as Brissett is now older, his numbers could regress. — Steve Bradshaw, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026

One of the things that struck me in going through his filmmaking career is a number of his movies weren’t that well received to begin with and then sort of built their status over time. — Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 17 Aug. 2026

Add the cost of tires, consumables, a thirsty engine, and the fact that cars are all so ludicrously expensive to begin with these days, and soon the whole thing starts to look unsustainable. — Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 17 Aug. 2026