at first

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

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Prepositional phrase

at first

1. (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.

   • 1978, Dino Fekaris, Freddie Perren (lyrics and music), “I Will Survive”, performed by Gloria Gaynor:

     At first I was afraid, I was petrified / Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:initially

Translations

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: 처음에는 (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)