1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

first off

adverb

Definition of first offnext
as in first

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for first off
  1. first
  2. now
  3. early
  4. before long
Adverb
  • Some of these details were first reported by the New York Times.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The meeting, first reported by Axios, comes at a high-stakes moment for Anthropic, which is gearing up for what’s widely expected to be a blockbuster IPO.
    — Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of first
Adverb
  • Starship debuted in April 2023 and now has 13 missions under its belt, all of them suborbital.
    — Mike Wall, Space.com, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Muse now can help consumers identify and cancel recurring subscriptions.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of now
Adverb
  • Underwood was picked off by Deshaun Lee, a former teammate at nearby Belleville High School, at the Iowa 2 early in the third quarter.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 27 Sep. 2026
  • Last season as a rookie, Ferguson was hindered early in the schedule because of a hamstring injury suffered during training camp.
    — Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of early
Adverb
  • Benton suggested that there’s a chance AI systems could come to exist as a sort of separate species before long.
    — Jared Perlo, NBC news, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The visits became more frequent, and before long, they were romantically and creatively conjoined.
    — Marlow Stern, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of before long
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

first names
first off
first-rate
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“First off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/first%20off. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of heterodox

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All