Definitions for earlier
ear·li·er

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. earlier, earliest(adverb)

   (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"

2. earlier, before(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"

3. sooner, earlier(adverb)

   comparatives of `soon' or `early'

   "Come a little sooner, if you can"; "came earlier than I expected"

4. in the first place, earlier, in the beginning, to begin with, originally(adverb)

   before now

   "why didn't you tell me in the first place?"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. earlier(Adverb)

   previously; before now; sooner

   I shall be late because I didn't start earlier.

2. earlier(Adjective)

   occurring previously

   I shall be late because I missed the earlier train.

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'earlier' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1091

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'earlier' in Written Corpus Frequency: #948

3. Adverbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'earlier' in Adverbs Frequency: #103

How to pronounce earlier?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say earlier in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of earlier in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of earlier in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of earlier in a Sentence

1. Sean McCormack:

   It's noticeable that the financial institutions here are very eager to hear what entrepreneurs and start-ups are doing, because they've seen a little bit earlier that it's something they need to catch on to.

2. Lisa Lindley:

   What really accounted for most of the risk for the girls was sexual behavior, basically the earlier they initiated intercourse and the more partners they had the more likely they were to become pregnant.

3. Stephanie Brickman:

   In the case of COVID-19, patients who pass away from the disease were infected 2-3 weeks previously on average. The outbreak in Italy has been evolving for longer than other places in Europe, and therefore more patients will have completed their final outcome and either been discharged or sadly passed away, other European countries, which are earlier in the epidemic, may well begin to experience deaths in the coming days and weeks.

4. John Carey:

   There's a little nervousness about earnings reports that we'll be seeing over the next couple or three weeks, the international situation continues to weigh on people's minds, and commodities were weaker earlier. In the absence of any strong new economic data or blow-away-type earnings results, people are still cautious, waiting for the Fed to decide on whether it's going to raise rates or not.

5. Charlie Flanagan:

   It is with great sadness that I confirm that a number of young Irish citizens have lost their lives while a number of others have been seriously injured following the collapse of a balcony in Berkeley, California earlier today, my heart goes out to all the families and loved ones of the deceased and those who have been injured in this appalling accident. My Department in Dublin stands ready to provide all possible consular assistance to the Irish citizens affected by this tragedy.

Images & Illustrations of earlier

Popularity rank by frequency of use