first-generation
adjective
1Designating the first of a generation to become a citizen in a new country.The entrepreneurial success of first-generation Jews enabled subsequent generations to move into the professional ranks of society....
- Living near the factories where they worked, first-generation Romanian Americans established communities which often consisted of extended families or of those who had migrated from the same region in Romania.
- While many first-generation Pakistani Americans continue to speak their native languages at home, offspring generally speak only English but understand their parents' native tongue.
1.1Designating the first of a generation to be born in a country of parents who had immigrated: a first-generation Canadian whose parents were born on a farm in Vietnam...
- To hear her tell it, Tan's experience as a first-generation American born to striving Chinese immigrants in post-War California has been a succession of terrifying leaps from one trauma to another.
- Consistently, first-generation students perceive their parents to be less supportive of their decision to attend college and less encouraging than their peers perceive their parents to be.
- He is first-generation Irish and was born and raised in Chicago, where most of his family still lives.
2Designating the first version of a type made available: first-generation descrambler technology...
- The first-generation antihistamines, often available as over-the-counter medications, produce a sedating effect.
- Toyota currently supplies Nissan with its aging, first-generation hybrid technology, and the hybrid-powered Altima won't reach consumers until 2006.
- It could not be saddled with Toyota's first-generation technology while its rival was busy creating the next system.