Standard Lemma guide

foremost

adj · adv · name · 13 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈfɔː.məʊst/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊst
  • CMU ARPABET: F AO1 R M OW2 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: front, frontmost, forwardmost

Antonyms: back, backmost, hindmost, rear, rearmost, rearwardmost

2

adj

Meaning 2

Coming before (all) others in time.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • 1769, Oliver Goldsmith, The Roman History, London: S. Baker and G. Leigh et al., Volume 1, Chapter 16, p. 254, He was the best horseman, and the swiftest runner of his time. He was ever the foremost to engage, and the last to retreat;
  • a. 1891, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, in The Shorter Novels of Herman Melville, New York: Fawcett Premier, 1956, Chapter 17, p. 244, a bright young schoolmate of his whom he had seen struck by much the same startling impotence in the act of eagerly rising in the class to be foremost in response to a testing question put to it by the master

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: first

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Of the highest rank or position; of the greatest importance; of the highest priority.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • The exhibition features works by the country’s foremost artists.
  • Foremost among the workers’ grievances was the company’s failure to address the many safety issues in the plant.
  • 1759, George Colman, The Rolliad, Canto 1, in Prose on Several Occasions: Accompanied with Some Pieces in Verse, London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume 2, p. 292, And have I then so oft, enrag’d she cried, / My longing soul its foremost wish denied?
  • 1846, Frederick Douglass, Reception Speech at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May 12, 1846, in My Bondage and My Freedom, New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855, Appendix, pp. 410-411, Of all things that have been said of slavery to which exception has been taken by slaveholders, this, the charge of cruelty, stands foremost, and yet there is no charge capable of clearer demonstration, than that of the most barbarous inhumanity on the part of the slaveholders toward their slaves.
  • 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, New Delhi: Penguin India, 1994, Section 9.13, p. 580, She was thinking of other matters. What was foremost on her mind was Haresh’s panama hat, which (though he had doffed it) she thought exceptionally stupid.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: greatest, leading, paramount, primary, principal, top

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Closest to the bow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: nautical, transport

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: aftermost

5

adv

Meaning 5

In front, prominently forward.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • 1820, John Keats, “Lamia,” Part 1, in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: Taylor and Hessey, p. 15, She saw the young Corinthian Lycius / Charioting foremost in the envious race,

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adv

Meaning 6

First in time.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • c. 1618, Philip Massinger, Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, The Old Law, London: Edward Archer, 1656, Act III, Scene 1, p. 41, Alwayes the worst goes foremost, so twill prove I hope

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

adv

Meaning 7

Most importantly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: especially, particularly

Antonyms: none provided

8

name

Meaning 8

A village in Alberta, Canada.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

adjective satellite

Meaning 9

preceding all others in spatial position

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the foremost compartment of the ship

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: frontmost

Antonyms: none provided

10

adjective satellite

Meaning 10

ranking above all others

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • was first in her class
  • the foremost figure among marine artists
  • the top graduate

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: first, world-class

Antonyms: none provided

11

adjective satellite

Meaning 11

situated closest to the bow

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the foremost compartment of the ship

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

adverb

Meaning 12

before anything else

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • first we must consider the garter snake

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: first, firstly, first of all, first off

Antonyms: none provided

13

adverb

Meaning 13

prominently forward

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he put his best foot foremost

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: first

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Old English formest, fyrmest (“earliest, first, most prominent”), from Proto-Germanic *frumistaz, from the locative stem *fur-, *fr- + the superlative suffix *-umistaz, stem ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr-. The suffix *-umistaz was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix *-umô (as in Old English fruma) + the regular superlative suffix *-istaz (English -est); *-umô in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-. Cognate with Old Frisian formest, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (frumists). See for, first and Old English fruma for more. Partially cognate to primus, from Proto-Indo-European *pr- + Latin superlative suffix -imus, from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-. A comparative former was back-formed analogically, leaving the m from *-umô in place. Later the Old English suffix complex -(u)m-est was conflated with the word most through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted as fore + -most.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: челен (čelen) — closest to the bow
  • Finnish: keulimmainen — closest to the bow
  • Polish: dziobowy — closest to the bow
  • Russian: носовой (nosovoj) — closest to the bow
  • Esperanto: pli antaŭe — in front
  • Esperanto: ĉefe — most importantly
Real reading context

foremost in complete knowledge articles

Subramaniya Swamy Temple, Tiruchendur Places & the world · Challenging · 2 uses