EARLIER • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... just estimate of this claim it will be necessary to recur to the cause which prevented its admission, or the admission of any part thereof, at an earlier day. It will be recollected that when a call was made on the militia of that State for service in the late war, under an arrangement which was alike applicable to the militia of all the States and ...

— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 1 (of 3) of Volume 2: James Monroe • James D. Richardson

... the folio on Weald, of course, but as the ship swam onward through emptiness he went through it again. The last medical inspection had been only perfunctory. Twelve years earlier—instead of three—a Med Ship had landed on Weald. There had been official conferences with health officials. There was a report on the birth rate, the death rate, the anomaly rate, and a breakdown of all reported communicable diseases. But that was all. There were no ...

— This World Is Taboo • Murray Leinster

... after the French invasion naturally tempted her seamen to transfer their skill to the rising powers of western Europe. Among such emigrants was John Cabot, a Venetian, who settled in Bristol, and then, after a return to his own country, again revisited his adopted city. Of his earlier history and personal character we know nothing. Our own records furnish nothing but the scanty outlines of his career, and the one glimpse of light which is thrown upon the living man is due to a lately discovered ...

— Great Epochs in American History, Volume I. - Voyages Of Discovery And Early Explorations: 1000 A.D.-1682 • Various

... saddened by his love for Rosa," Edwin would have been one of those characters Dickens loved to draw—a character entirely changed from a once careless, almost trivial self, to depth and earnestness. "All were to join in changing the ways of dear old Grewgious from the sadness and loneliness of the earlier scenes" in the story, "to the warmth and light of that kindly domestic life for which, angular though he thought himself, his true and genial nature fitted him so thoroughly." This attempt to solve The ...

— A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land • William R. Hughes

... Earlier even than the day of Lamartine and Victor Hugo, Casimir Delavigne had the glory of stirring the heart of France. He had the added merit of maintaining, after Beaumarchais and before Emile Augier, the dignity of high comedy. Ingenious scenes of life, lively and spirited details, grace ...

— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern -- Volume 11 • Various

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