at first

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Pronunciation edit

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Prepositional phrase edit

at first

(idiomatic) Initially; at the start.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 51:
  “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.

Synonyms edit

See also Thesaurus:initially

Translations edit

initially; at the start

Armenian: նախ (hy) (nax), սկզբում (skzbum)
Bashkir: тәүҙә (təwźə), башта (başta), алда (alda), алдан (aldan), борон (boron), элек (elek)
Belarusian: спача́тку (be) (spačátku), спярша́ (spjaršá)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 起初 (zh) (qǐchū)
Czech: zpočátku (cs), nejprve (cs)
Dutch: aanvankelijk (nl)
Esperanto: unue
Finnish: ensin (fi), ensiksi (fi), ensi alkuun (fi)
French: d’abord (fr), au début
German: zuerst (de), zunächst (de), anfänglich (de), anfangs (de)
Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית (he) (bereshít), תְּחִלָּה (tḥilá)
Hungarian: először (hu), eleinte (hu), kezdetben (hu)
Irish: ar dtús, i dtosach
Old Irish: i tosuch
Italian: dapprima (it), all'inizio, sulle prime
Japanese: 始めは (ja) (はじめは, hajime wa)
Kazakh: әуел баста (äuel basta)
Korean: 처음 에 는 (cheo'eumeneun)
Lao: ທີ່ຕົ້ນ (thī ton)
Latin: primitus, primum (la)
Polish: z początku, na początku (pl)
Portuguese: a princípio
Russian: снача́ла (ru) (snačála), сперва́ (ru) (spervá), понача́лу (ru) (ponačálu), пре́жде (ru) (préžde)
Sanskrit: प्रथमम् (sa) (prathamam)
Scottish Gaelic: an toiseach, sa chiad dol a-mach
Spanish: al principio, en un principio, al inicio
Swedish: först (sv), till en början
Ukrainian: споча́тку (uk) (spočátku), спе́ршу (spéršu), напе́ршу (napéršu)
Uyghur: دەسلەپتە (deslepte)
Vietnamese: mới đầu
Yakut: бастаан (bastaan)