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

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Sometimes, courts threaten to hold the lawyers themselves in contempt if there is a belief on the part of the court that the lawyers are not complying with what the court ordered in the first instance. —

Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 11 Feb. 2025 Under Loper Bright,] our task [instead] is to determine ‘the best reading of the statute’ in the first instance. —

Alden Abbott, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025 Using my fitness examples again, in the first instance, my actions were irregular, insufficient and not aligned. —

David Deane-Spread, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024 Science is communal in the first instance, a matter of clubs and, not infrequently, pairings. —

Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024 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

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“In the first instance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20the%20first%20instance. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.

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