Definitions for early
ˈɜr liear·ly

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. earlyadjective

   at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time

   "early morning"; "an early warning"; "early diagnosis"; "an early death"; "took early retirement"; "an early spring"; "early varieties of peas and tomatoes mature before most standard varieties"

2. earlyadjective

   being or occurring at an early stage of development

   "in an early stage"; "early forms of life"; "early man"; "an early computer"

3. early(a), former(a), other(a)adjective

   belonging to the distant past

   "the early inhabitants of Europe"; "former generations"; "in other times"

4. earlyadjective

   very young

   "at an early age"

5. earlyadjective

   of an early stage in the development of a language or literature

   "the Early Hebrew alphabetical script is that used mainly from the 11th to the 6th centuries B.C."; "Early Modern English is represented in documents printed from 1476 to 1700"

6. earlyadverb

   expected in the near future

   "look for an early end to the negotiations"

7. early on, earlyadverb

   during an early stage

   "early on in her career"

8. early, ahead of time, too soonadverb

   before the usual time or the time expected

   "she graduated early"; "the house was completed ahead of time"

9. early, betimesadverb

   in good time

   "he awoke betimes that morning"

WiktionaryRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. earlynoun

   A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.

2. earlyadverb

   At a time before expected; sooner than usual.

   We finished the project an hour sooner than scheduled, so we left early.

3. earlyadjective

   At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.

4. earlyadjective

   Arriving a time before expected; sooner than on-time.

5. earlyadjective

   Near the start or beginning.

6. Etymology: From erly, erli, ærlice, from ær + adverbial suffix -lice. Cognate with Old Norse árla (> Danish and Norwegian årle, Swedish arla)

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. EARLYadjective

   Soon with respect to something else: as, in the morning, with respect to the sun; in time, with respect to creation; in the season, in comparison with other products.

   Etymology: ær, Saxon, before.

   I am a tainted wether of the flock,
   Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
   Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me. William Shakespeare.

   It is a curiosity to have several fruits upon one tree; and the more when some of them come early, and some come late, so that you may have upon the same tree ripe fruits all Summer. Francis Bacon, Natural History, №. 501.

   God made all the world, that he might be worshipped in some parts of the world; and therefore, in the first and most early times of the church, what care did he manifest to have such places erected to his honour? Robert South, Sermons.

   And yet my numbers please the rural throng,
   Rough satyrs dance, and Pan approves the song;
   The nymphs, forsaking ev’ry cave and spring,
   Their early fruit and milk-white turtles bring. Alexander Pope.

   Sickness is early old age: it teaches us a diffidence in our earthly state, and inspires us with the thoughts of a future. Alexander Pope.

   Oh soul of honour!
   Oh early heroe! Edmund Smith, Phædra and Hippolitus.

2. Earlyadverb

   Soon; betimes.

   Etymology: from the adjective.

   Early before the morn with crimson ray
   The windows of bright heav’n opened had. Fairy Queen.

   None in more languages can show
   Those arts, which you so early know. Edmund Waller.

   The princess makes her issue like herself, by instilling early into their minds religion, virtue and honour. Joseph Addison, Freehol.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. early

   Early refers to a point in time that occurs before a specified time, event, or expected occurrence. It can also refer to something near the beginning or at the initial stage of a period or process.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Earlyadverb

   soon; in good season; seasonably; betimes; as, come early

2. Earlyadverb

   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

3. Earlyadverb

   coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc

4. Etymology: [OE. erli, erliche, AS. rlce; r sooner + lc like. See Ere, and Like.]

FreebaseRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Early

   Early is a city located in Brown County in west-central Texas. The population was 2,762 at the 2010 census. It is named for Walter U. Early, who donated land for the schools. It is home to the Early Independent School District and the Heartland Mall.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Early

   ėr′li, adj. in good season: at or near the beginning of the day: relating to the beginning: happening in the near future.—adv. near the beginning: soon.—n. Ear′liness.—Early and late, at all times; Early bird, an early riser; Early English (archit.), generally applied to the form of Gothic in which the pointed arch was first employed in Britain. The Early English succeeded the Norman towards the end of the 12th century, and merged into the Decorated at the end of the 13th.—Keep early hours, to rise and go to bed betimes; Small and early (coll.), applied to evening parties; The early bird catches the worm, a proverb in favour of early rising. [A.S. árlíce—ǽr, before.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Early

   Soon vs Early -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Soon and Early.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. EARLY

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Early is ranked #2578 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Early surname appeared 14,014 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 would have the surname Early.
   
   73.2% or 10,262 total occurrences were White.
   21.4% or 3,006 total occurrences were Black.
   2.1% or 301 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   1.9% or 276 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   0.7% or 102 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
   0.4% or 64 total occurrences were Asian.

Matched Categories

1. • Linguistics

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'early' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #311

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'early' in Written Corpus Frequency: #794

3. Adverbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'early' in Adverbs Frequency: #124

4. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'early' in Adjectives Frequency: #18

Anagrams for early »

1. layer

2. relay

3. re-lay

How to pronounce early?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say early in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of early in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of early in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of early in a Sentence

1. Bethany Khan:

   Nevada is an early vote state, i think that trend will stay true in the caucus... This is the first time the union has been an early vote location and this site has seen hundreds of people come through on day one of early vote.

2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

   I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird, and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.

3. John Anthony Ciardi:

   Early to bed and early to rise probably indicates unskilled labor.

4. Karen Pierce:

   This opens up really unprecedented opportunity to get them into early treatment -- potentially early intensive treatment -- and then check to see what kind of impact this is having by the time they reach school age, the brain is very plastic during early development and can be impacted by input from the environment.

5. Amanda Kloots:

   The doctor just called and said that Nick is showing very, very, very early, early, early stages of tracking, which means hes starting to wake up, which is huge, early, early, early signs.

Popularity rank by frequency of use