in the first instance

idiom

formal

: before other events happen : as the first thing in a series of actions

You will be seen in the first instance by your own doctor who may then send you to a specialist.

Examples of in the first instance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Science is communal in the first instance, a matter of clubs and, not infrequently, pairings. —

Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024 The more important question, though, is why Brazil’s government was demanding those removals in the first instance. —

The Editors, National Review, 6 Sep. 2024 Throughout his narrative, his engrossing mixture of closeup witness and broad-view sociology calls to mind the late Howard S. Becker’s insistence that the best sociology is always, in the first instance, wide-angle reporting. —

The New Yorker, 12 June 2024 The popping of those bubbles led in the first instance to the Great Depression and in the second to a recession. —

Ruchir Sharma, Foreign Affairs, 31 Mar. 2020 See all Example Sentences for in the first instance

Dictionary Entries Near in the first instance

in the (first) flush of

in the first instance

in the first place

See More Nearby Entries

Cite this Entry

Style

“In the first instance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20the%20first%20instance. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

Copy Citation