as in originally
in the beginning
firstly, gather all the ingredients together
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Recent Examples of firstly
Another contributor is the increase in childlessness, Seabright said, which has two effects—firstly, fewer children born of Christian parents, and secondly, childless couples and younger single people are less likely to belong to Christian churches than couples with children.
—
Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 July 2025
Outlining its overall mission, BIFF highlighted three key directions for the festival: firstly, to reaffirm its identity as Asia’s representative film festival, which includes the launch of the competition section.
—Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 30 Apr. 2025
But what the 175 background interviews did was, firstly, reinforced to me that (the band members) were reliable witnesses, certainly of that period of their lives from their childhood forward.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 16 Apr. 2025
Diego Simeone could spring some surprises with his line-up, firstly by standing by goalkeeper Juan Musso despite question marks over his performance in the first leg.
—Sam Leveridge, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for firstly
Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 July 2025
Outlining its overall mission, BIFF highlighted three key directions for the festival: firstly, to reaffirm its identity as Asia’s representative film festival, which includes the launch of the competition section.
—Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 30 Apr. 2025
But what the 175 background interviews did was, firstly, reinforced to me that (the band members) were reliable witnesses, certainly of that period of their lives from their childhood forward.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 16 Apr. 2025
Diego Simeone could spring some surprises with his line-up, firstly by standing by goalkeeper Juan Musso despite question marks over his performance in the first leg.
—Sam Leveridge, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for firstly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for firstly
Adverb
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This makes Carne Asada's fourth return to the menu since it was originally introduced at Chipotle in 2019.—
Mike Snider,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
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Ana Garcia Aburto, originally from a town near Veracruz, Mexico, has a clothing store here.—
Rick Barrett,
jsonline.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Adverb
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Enciso has been left out of the squad for these fixtures because of his recent knee operation, and it was initially feared his lay-off afterwards would be long enough to scupper a move in the summer window.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
4 Sep. 2025
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Ziva hid Tali from Tony initially and then faked her own death.—
Toni Fitzgerald,
Forbes.com,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Firstly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/firstly. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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