Synonyms: early
Definition: at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time
Usage: 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
Similar words: aboriginal, primaeval, primal, primeval, primordial
Definition: having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state
Usage: aboriginal forests; primal eras before the appearance of life on earth; the forest primeval; primordial matter; primordial forms of life
Similar words: advance, beforehand
Definition: being ahead of time or need
Usage: gave advance warning; was beforehand with her report
Similar words: archaean, archean
Definition: of or relating to the earliest known rocks formed during the Precambrian Eon
Similar words: archaeozoic, archeozoic
Definition: of or belonging to earlier of two divisions of the Precambrian era
Usage: archeozoic life forms
Similar words: azoic
Definition: before the appearance of life
Usage: azoic rocks contain not organic remains
Similar words: earlier, earliest
Definition: (comparative and superlative of `early') more early than; most early
Usage: a fashion popular in earlier times; his earlier work reflects the influence of his teacher; Verdi's earliest and most raucous opera
Similar words: earlyish
Definition: being somewhat early
Usage: at an earlyish hour
Similar words: premature, untimely
Definition: uncommonly early or before the expected time
Usage: illness led to his premature death; alcohol brought him to an untimely end
Similar words: premature, previous
Definition: too soon or too hasty
Usage: our condemnation of him was a bit previous; a premature judgment
Similar words: proterozoic
Definition: formed in the later of two divisions of the Precambrian era
Usage: proterozoic life forms
Similar words: proto
Definition: indicating the first or earliest or original
Usage: `proto' is a combining form in a word like `protolanguage' that refers to the hypothetical ancestor of another language or group of languages
Similar words: wee
Definition: very early
Usage: the wee hours of the morning
Synonyms: early
Definition: being or occurring at an early stage of development
Usage: in an early stage; early forms of life; early man; an early computer
Similar words: primitive, archaic
Definition: little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type
Usage: archaic forms of life; primitive mammals; the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe
Definition: (of crops) harvested at an early stage of development; before complete maturity
Usage: new potatoes; young corn
Similar words: primitive, rude, crude
Definition: belonging to an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness
Usage: the crude weapons and rude agricultural implements of early man; primitive movies of the 1890s; primitive living conditions in the Appalachian mountains
Similar words: embryonic, embryotic
Definition: in an early stage of development
Usage: the embryonic government staffed by survivors of the massacre; an embryonic nation, not yet self-governing
Similar words: inchoate, incipient
Definition: only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
Usage: incipient civil disorder; an incipient tumor; a vague inchoate idea
Similar words: precocious
Definition: appearing or developing early
Usage: precocious flowers appear before the leaves as in some species of magnolias
Synonyms: early
Definition: of an early stage in the development of a language or literature
Usage: 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
Similar words: Old
Definition: of a very early stage in development
Usage: Old English is also called Anglo Saxon; Old High German is High German from the middle of the 9th to the end of the 11th century
Synonyms: early
Definition: very young
Usage: at an early age
Similar words: young, immature
Definition: (used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
Usage: young people
Synonyms: former, early, other
Definition: belonging to the distant past
Usage: the early inhabitants of Europe; former generations; in other times
Similar words: past
Definition: earlier than the present time; no longer current
Usage: time past; his youth is past; this past Thursday; the past year
Synonyms: early
Definition: expected in the near future
Usage: look for an early end to the negotiations