'Earlier' definitions:

Definition of 'earlier'

(from WordNet)
adverb
Earlier in time; previously; "I had known her before"; "as I said before"; "he called me the day before but your call had come even earlier"; "her parents had died four years earlier"; "I mentioned that problem earlier" [syn: earlier, before]
adverb
Comparatives of `soon' or `early'; "Come a little sooner, if you can"; "came earlier than I expected" [syn: sooner, earlier]
adverb
Before now; "why didn't you tell me in the first place?" [syn: in the first place, earlier, in the beginning, to begin with, originally]
adjective
(comparative and superlative of `early') more early than; most early; "a fashion popular in earlier times"; "his earlier work reflects the influence of his teacher"; "Verdi's earliest and most raucous opera" [syn: earlier, earliest]

Definition of 'Earlier'

From: GCIDE
  • Early \Ear"ly\, a. [Compar. Earlier ([~e]r"l[i^]*[~e]r); superl. Earliest.] [OE. earlich. [root]204. See Early, adv.]
  • 1. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • Early and provident fear is the mother of safety. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
  • The doorsteps and threshold with the early grass springing up about them. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • Seen in life's early morning sky. --Keble. [1913 Webster]
  • The forms of its earlier manhood. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
  • The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth summer. --J. C. Shairp. [1913 Webster]
  • 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.
  • Syn: Forward; timely; not late; seasonable. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'earlier'

From: GCIDE
  • earlier \earlier\ adj. occurring at a prior time; as, on earlier occasions. [WordNet 1.5]

Synonyms of 'earlier'

From: Moby Thesaurus