in the first place

1 definition found

in the first place - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  in the first place
      adv 1: 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]
      2: of primary import; "this is primarily a question of
         economics"; "it was in the first place a local matter" [syn:
         primarily, in the first place] [ant: secondarily]