earliest

«earliest» in Mova's school dictionary: the superlative of «early»: the first one in time, or the… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (early, earlier, earliest); adverb (early, earlier, earliest)

meaning for a pupil

1) Earliest is the superlative of «early»: the first one in time, or the one that comes before all the others. tree →

2) The earliest time or moment is the soonest possible one. tree →

3) At the earliest means not before this time, and possibly later. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons pupils learn about the earliest humans, the earliest writing and the earliest towns. In maths and timetables, the earliest train is the first one; in time problems you compare times to find the earliest. Phrases: «at the earliest», «the earliest possible», «from my earliest memory», «earliest times».

examples

• The earliest train leaves at six in the morning. tree →
• My earliest memory is of a red balloon. tree →
• The earliest people made tools from stone. tree →
• Who woke up earliest today? tree →
• We can finish the project by Friday at the earliest. tree →
• Cave paintings are some of the earliest art we know. tree →
• Which runner finished earliest? She had the shortest time. tree →
• The present volume attempts to begin the pleasant captivity from the earliest years. tree →

note

Comparison: early, earlier, earliest; change y to i before -er and -est. Maths trap: the earliest time is the smallest time on the clock in the same day, and in races the earliest finisher has the shortest time. «At the earliest» means «not sooner than», the opposite of «at the latest».

In the corpora

• The earliest moment to stop a lie is the easiest one.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «earliest» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.