in the first place

idiom

1

—used at the end of a sentence to indicate what was true or what should have been done at the beginning of a situation

We should never have gone there in the first place.

I didn't care much for the job in the first place.

2

—used when listing the most important parts of something or the most important reasons for something

I'm not going to tell you because, in the first place, it's none of your business, and in the second place, you would tell everyone else.

Examples of in the first place in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But some common tips may not apply to you, or even be true in the first place. —Kamaron McNair, CNBC, 5 Nov. 2024

But how does a dry scalp happen to us in the first place? —Audrey Noble, Vogue, 5 Nov. 2024

Some, like Ryan Stacks and Charles Wohlford, said that the language of the Arkansas Brine Act, which is what mandates the royalty in the first place, puts the commissioners in a difficult position. —Ainsley Platt, arkansasonline.com, 5 Nov. 2024

Imbert remembers first seeing preservation efforts in the late 2000s, with groups trying to save old consoles, games lost to time that cannot be legally played anywhere, design documents that show how these games were created in the first place, and more. —Jason Fanelli, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2024