EARLIER • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Earlier

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/ˈərliər/ Listen

adjective

earlier adj. Occurring at a prior time; as, on earlier occasions.

Early adj. (compar. earlier; superl. earliest)

In advance of the usual or appointed time; in good season; prior in time; among or near the first; opposed to late; as, the early bird; an early spring; early fruit. "Early and provident fear is the mother of safety." "The doorsteps and threshold with the early grass springing up about them."

Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc. "Seen in life's early morning sky." "The forms of its earlier manhood." "The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth summer."

Early English (Philol.) See the Note under English.

Early English architecture, the first of the pointed or Gothic styles used in England, succeeding the Norman style in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Synonyms: Forward; timely; not late; seasonable.

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Etymology of 'Earlier'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Earlier" Quotes from Famous Books

... likely to be at a low ebb where there is but little knowledge of, or interest in, the history of its past. I was recently impressed with this in visiting a small inland community, which was not without many events of interest in its earlier development. I failed, however, to find any connected records of the community's past or any of its people who know much of its history. So far as I could learn there had been few celebrations or community activities for ...

— The Farmer and His Community • Dwight Sanderson

... latter sowings are usually the most productive, and the dye obtained from them the finest. The object for thus delaying the sowing is, that the young plants may have a more genial season for vegetation. Those who prefer sowing earlier, and yet are aware of the importance of saving the young plants as much as possible from the comparative low temperature of the season, sow some other crop with their indigo. Til, the country linseed, is good for this purpose ...

— The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom • P. L. Simmonds

... face was another form of penalty. The first mention of it occurs in A.D. 400 when Richu condemned the muraji, Hamako, to be thus branded, but whether the practice originated then or dated from an earlier period, the annals do not show. It was variously called hitae-kizamu (slicing the brow), me-saku (splitting the eyes), and so on, but these terms signified nothing worse than tattooing on the forehead or round the eyes. The Emperor Richu deemed ...

— A History of the Japanese People - From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era • Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi

... Factbook, beginning with the 2000 edition, are available for downloading - but not browsing - on the CIA Web site. Hardcopy editions for earlier years ...

— The 2007 CIA World Factbook • United States

... population—"Forty thousand, and growing, sir!" loyally declared those disinterested citizens engaged in the sale of remote fields of ragweed as building lots—Westville was still but half-evolved from its earlier state of an overgrown country town. It was as yet semi-pastoral, semi-urban. Automobiles and farm wagons locked hubs in brotherly embrace upon its highways; cowhide boots and patent leather shared its sidewalks. There was a stockbroker's ...

— Counsel for the Defense • Leroy Scott

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