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

Heck, without them, the crawling wouldn’t have happened in the first place. —Bethany Brookshire, Scientific American, 25 Jan. 2025

As winds picked up again this week, key questions about the fires remain unanswered: What sparked the flames in the first place? —Sachi Mulkey, WIRED, 25 Jan. 2025

Tips to Feeling Less Hungover The best way to treat a hangover is to prevent it in the first place. —Alicen Nelson Md, Verywell Health, 24 Jan. 2025

Jurisdiction Republicans in court filings cited legal cases backing their position that the House only requires 67 members to meet quorum, but on Thursday, Nelson spent much of his time before the justices arguing the Supreme Court didn’t have jurisdiction over the Legislature in the first place. —Alex Derosier, Twin Cities, 24 Jan. 2025