to begin with
B1 at the start of a process, event, or situation:
There were six of us to begin with, then two people left.
B2 used to give the first important reason for something:
The hotel was awful! To begin with, our room was far too small.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
First and firstly
- at first idiom
- begin
- debut
- first come, first served idiom
- firstly
- for starters idiom
- from the word go idiom
- in the first/second place idiom
- inaugural
- initial
- initially
- introduction
- originally
- place
- prefatory
- primary
- proto-
- starter
- ur-
- word
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