Definition of early

"early" in the adjective sense

1. early

at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time

"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"

2. early

being or occurring at an early stage of development

"in an early stage"

"early forms of life"

"early man"

"an early computer"

3. early, former, other

belonging to the distant past

"the early inhabitants of Europe"

"former generations"

"in other times"

4. early

very young

"at an early age"

5. early

of an early stage in the development of a language or literature

"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"

6. early

expected in the near future

"look for an early end to the negotiations"

"early" in the adverb sense

1. early on, early

during an early stage

"early on in her career"

2. early, ahead of time, too soon

before the usual time or the time expected

"she graduated early"

"the house was completed ahead of time"

3. early, betimes

in good time

"he awoke betimes that morning"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for early

Early sow, early mow. [ Proverb ]

Early ripe, early rotten. [ Proverb ]

It gets late early out there. [ Yogi Berra, About the sun conditions in left field ]

Early up, and never the near. [ Proverb ]

Early start makes easy stages. [ Amer. Proverb ]

Be old early you you can long be so. [ Proverb ]

A useless life is but an early death. [ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ]

Roses, and pinks, and violets, to adorn
The shrine of Flora in her early May. [ Keats ]

God's help is better than early rising. [ Proverb ]

Heaven gives its favorites early death. [ Byron ]

The early morning has gold in its mouth. [ Franklin ]

Perhaps the early grave
Which men weep over may be meant to save. [ Byron ]

Early to bed, and early to rise,
Will make a man healthy, wealthy and wise. [ Proverb ]

The early sower never borrows of the late. [ Proverb ]

Heaven's help is better than early rising. [ Cervantes ]

It is the early bird that catches the worm. [ Proverb ]

Man is his own star, and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early or too late. [ Beaumont and Fletcher ]

His early dreams of good outstripped the truth,
And troubled manhood followed baffled youth. [ Byron ]

Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise,
We love the play-place of our early days.
The scene is touching, and the heart is stone.
That feels not at that sight, and feels at none. [ Cowper ]

Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew.
She sparkled, was exhal'd, and went to heaven. [ Young ]

Men know life too early, women know life too late. [ Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance ]

A man loses his time that comes early to a bad bargain. [ Proverb ]

Better late ripe and bear, than early blossom and blast. [ Proverb ]

In the midst of early life, Snares of death surround us. [ Martin Luther ]

What the better is the house for a sluggard's rising early? [ Proverb ]

I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early. [ Yogi Berra ]

To plough and sow, to reap and mow, my father bred me early,
For one, he said, to labour bred, was a match for fortune fairly. [ Burns ]

But, oh! fell Death's untimely frost, That nipt my flower sae early. [ Burns ]

It is better for the man whom God helps than for him who rises early. [ Cervantes ]

Wisdom is everlasting; early or late we apprehend her still the same. [ Frederic W. H. Myers ]

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. [ Proverb ]

Though you rise early, yet the day comes at his time, and not till then. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

Habits formed in early life and early education press upon us as we grow older. [ U. S. Grant ]

Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink. [ Bible ]

My early and invincible love of reading, I would not exchange for the treasures of India. [ Gibbon ]

The second childhood of a saint is the early infancy of a happy immortality, as we believe. [ Wm. Mountford ]

It is not only old and early impressions that deceive us; the charms of novelty have the same power. [ Pascal ]

Divine love is a sacred flower, which in its early bud is happiness, and in its full bloom is heaven. [ Hervey ]

No evil is felt till it comes, and when it comes no counsel helps. Wisdom is always too early and too late. [ Rückert ]

The daffodil is our door-side queen; she pushes up the sward already, to spot with sunshine the early green. [ Bryant ]

Many-colored, sunshine-loving, spring-betokening bee! yellow bee, so mad for love of early-blooming flowers! [ Professor Wilson ]

Next to temperance, a quiet conscience, and cheerful mind, and active habits, I place early rising, as a means of health and happiness. [ Timothy Flint ]

A book may be compared to the life of your neighbor; if it be good, it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early. [ Brooke ]

I believe it will be found that those who marry late are best pleased with their children; and those who marry early, with their partners. [ Dr. Johnson ]

It is to teach us early in life how to think, and to excite our infantile imagination, that prudent Nature has given to women so much chit-chat. [ La Bruyere ]

The early and the latter part of human life are the best, or, at least, the most worthy of respect; the one is the age of innocence, the other of reason. [ Joubert ]

Depend upon it, my younger brethren, the bright, self-sacrificing enthusiasms of early manhood are among the most precious things in the whole course of human life. [ H. P. Liddon ]

The early months of marriage often are times of critical tumult, - whether that of a shrimp pool or of deeper water, - which afterwards subside into cheerful peace. [ George Eliot ]

Many young painters would never have taken their pencils in hand if they could have felt, known, and understood, early enough, what really produced a master like Raphael. [ Goethe ]

As the shadow in early morning, is friendship with the wicked; it dwindles hour by hour; but friendship with the good increases, like the evening shadow, till the sun of life sets. [ Herder ]

Haste turns usually upon a matter of ten minutes too late, and may be avoided by a habit like that of Lord Nelson, to which he ascribed his success in life, of being ten minutes too early. [ Bovee ]

Rarity gives a charm: thus early fruits are most esteemed; thus winter roses obtain a higher price; thus coyness sets off an extravagant mistress; a door ever open attracts no young suitor. [ Martial ]

Bed is a bundle of paradoxes; we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; and we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late. [ Colton ]

I was always an early riser. Happy the man who is! Every morning day comes to him with a virgin's love, full of bloom and freshness. The youth of nature is contagious, like the gladness of a happy child. [ Edward Bulwer-Lytton ]

Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become decent, till then ridiculous; where the eye is the jury thy apparel is the evidence. [ Quarles ]

The centuries are all lineal children of one another; and often, in the portrait of early grandfathers, this and the other enigmatic feature of the newest grandson will disclose itself, to mutual elucidation. [ Carlyle ]

There is to me a daintiness about early flowers that touches me like poetry; they blow out with such a simple loveliness among the common herbs of pastures, and breathe their lives so unobstrusively, like hearts whose beatings are too gentle for the world. [ N. P. Willis ]

Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and spring. If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature, if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you, know that the morning and spring of your life are past. [ Thoreau ]

We frequently fall into error and folly, not because the true principles of action are not known, but because for a time they are not remembered; he may, therefore, justly be numbered among the benefactors of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences that may early be impressed on the memory, and taught by frequent recollection to occur habitually to the mind. [ Johnson ]

Almost all men are over-anxious. No sooner do they enter the world than they lose that taste for natural and simple pleasures so remarkable in early life. Every hour do they ask themselves what progress they have made in the pursuit of wealth or honor; and on they go as their fathers went before them, till, weary and sick at heart, they look back with a sigh of regret to the golden time of their childhood. [ Rogers ]

Nature seems to delight in disappointing the assiduities of art, with which it would rear dulness to maturity, and to glory in the vigor and luxuriance of her chance productions. She scatters the seeds of genius to the winds, and though some may perish among the stony places of the world, and some may be choked by the thorns and brambles of early adversity, yet others will now and then strike root even in the clefts of the rock, struggle bravely up into sunshine, and spread over their sterile birthplace all the beauties of vegetation. [ Washington Irving ]

Today it is all of sixty years since I began to smoke the limit. I have never bought cigars with life-belts around them. I early found that those were too expensive for me: I have always bought cheap cigars - reasonably cheap, at any rate. Sixty years ago they cost me four dollars a barrel, but my taste has improved, latterly, and I pay seven, now. Six or seven. Seven, I think. Yes; it's seven. But that includes the barrel. I often have smoking-parties at my house; but the people that come have always just taken the pledge. I wonder why that is? [ Mark Twain, Seventieth Birthday speech ]

The love of flowers seems a naturally implanted passion, without any alloy or debasing object in its motive; we cherish them in youth, we admire them in declining years; but perhaps it is the early flowers of spring that always bring with them the greatest degree of pleasure; and our affections seem to expand at the sight of the first blossom under the sunny wall, or sheltered bank, however humble its race may be. With summer flowers we seem to live, as with our neighbors, in harmony and good order; but spring flowers are cherished as private friendships. [ G. A. Sola ]

I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time. I have no other restriction as regards smoking. I do not know just when I began to smoke, I only know that it was in my father's lifetime, and that I was discreet. He passed from this life early in 1847, when I was a shade past eleven; ever since then I have smoked publicly. As an example to others, and - not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake. It is a good rule. I mean, for me; but some of you know quite well that it wouldn't answer for everybody that's trying to get to be seventy. [ Mark Twain, Seventieth Birthday speech ]

Mother! How many delightful associations cluster around that word! The innocent smiles of infancy, the gambols of boyhood, and the happiest hours of riper years! When my heart aches and my limbs are weary travelling the thorny path of life, I sit down on some mossy stone, and closing my eyes on real scenes, send my spirit back to the days of early life; I feel afresh my infant joys and sorrows, till my spirit recovers its tone, and is willing to pursue its journey. But in all these reminiscences my mother rises; if I seat myself upon my cushion, it is at her side; if I sing, it is to her ear; if I walk the walls or the meadows, my little hand is in my mother's, and my little feet keep company with hers; when my heart bounds with its best joy, it is because at the performance of some task, or the recitation of some verses, I receive a present from her hand. There is no velvet so soft as a mother's lap, no rose so lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps. [ Bishop Thomson ]

early in Scrabble®

The word early is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 8

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays In The Letters early:

RELAY
(36)
EARLY
(36)
LEARY
(36)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word early

EARLY
(36)
EARLY
(32)
EARLY
(27)
EARLY
(27)
EARLY
(27)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(20)
EARLY
(18)
EARLY
(18)
EARLY
(18)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(13)
EARLY
(13)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(9)
EARLY
(9)
EARLY
(9)
EARLY
(8)

The 200 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In early

RELAY
(36)
EARLY
(36)
LEARY
(36)
YARE
(33)
RELY
(33)
YEAR
(33)
LEARY
(32)
EARLY
(32)
RELAY
(32)
LEARY
(27)
LEARY
(27)
EARLY
(27)
RELAY
(27)
LAYER
(27)
LAYER
(27)
LEARY
(27)
LAYER
(27)
LAYER
(27)
EARLY
(27)
EARLY
(27)
RELAY
(27)
RELAY
(27)
RELAY
(24)
ARYL
(24)
ARYL
(24)
LYRE
(24)
RELAY
(24)
RELAY
(24)
YEAR
(24)
LEARY
(24)
LEARY
(24)
LEARY
(24)
LEARY
(24)
LEARY
(24)
LAYER
(24)
LAYER
(24)
LAYER
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
RELAY
(24)
LYRE
(24)
EARLY
(24)
YARE
(24)
RELAY
(24)
RELY
(24)
RELY
(22)
YEAR
(22)
YARE
(22)
RELY
(21)
YARE
(21)
YEAR
(21)
YARE
(21)
YARE
(21)
LYRE
(21)
LYRE
(21)
LYRE
(21)
LYRE
(21)
RELY
(21)
YARE
(21)
YEAR
(21)
RELY
(21)
ARYL
(21)
ARYL
(21)
YEAR
(21)
RELY
(21)
YEAR
(21)
ARYL
(21)
ARYL
(21)
LEARY
(20)
LAYER
(20)
EARLY
(20)
RELAY
(20)
LAYER
(20)
EARLY
(18)
YEA
(18)
LAYER
(18)
LAYER
(18)
YEA
(18)
LAYER
(18)
LAY
(18)
LAYER
(18)
EARLY
(18)
YAR
(18)
EARLY
(18)
YEA
(18)
LAY
(18)
LAY
(18)
RELAY
(18)
YAR
(18)
RYE
(18)
RELAY
(18)
RAY
(18)
RAY
(18)
RAY
(18)
LYE
(18)
LYE
(18)
AYE
(18)
AYE
(18)
LYE
(18)
LEARY
(18)
RYE
(18)
RELAY
(18)
RYE
(18)
LEARY
(18)
YAR
(18)
LEARY
(18)
AYE
(18)
LAYER
(16)
LEARY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
LEARY
(16)
YEAR
(16)
RELAY
(16)
RELAY
(16)
RELAY
(16)
RELAY
(16)
RELAY
(16)
YARE
(16)
EARLY
(16)
LAYER
(16)
LYRE
(16)
LEARY
(16)
LYRE
(16)
LAYER
(16)
LAYER
(16)
LAYER
(16)
LEARY
(16)
LAYER
(16)
RELY
(16)
LEARY
(16)
ARYL
(16)
EARLY
(16)
ARYL
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
YE
(15)
LYRE
(15)
AY
(15)
RELY
(15)
YA
(15)
YARE
(15)
AY
(15)
LEAR
(15)
EARL
(15)
YA
(15)
REAL
(15)
REAL
(15)
ARYL
(15)
YE
(15)
LEAR
(15)
YEAR
(15)
EARL
(15)
YEAR
(14)
YARE
(14)
RAY
(14)
YARE
(14)
RELY
(14)
YARE
(14)
LYRE
(14)
RELY
(14)
ARYL
(14)
LAY
(14)
LYRE
(14)
RELY
(14)
YAR
(14)
YEAR
(14)
RYE
(14)
YARE
(14)
LYE
(14)
AYE
(14)
ARYL
(14)
LYRE
(14)
RELY
(14)
ARYL
(14)
YEAR
(14)
YEA
(14)
ARYL
(14)
YEAR
(14)
LYRE
(14)
LAYER
(13)
YA
(13)
EARLY
(13)
EARLY
(13)
RELAY
(13)
LAYER
(13)
RELAY
(13)
LEARY
(13)
LEARY
(13)
YE
(13)
AY
(13)
LEAR
(12)
RYE
(12)
AYE
(12)
RYE
(12)
REAL
(12)
RELY
(12)
LEAR
(12)
EARL
(12)

early in Words With Friends™

The word early is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 8

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays In The Letters early:

LEARY
(42)
RELAY
(42)
EARLY
(42)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word early

EARLY
(42)
EARLY
(36)
EARLY
(32)
EARLY
(30)
EARLY
(30)
EARLY
(28)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(22)
EARLY
(20)
EARLY
(20)
EARLY
(18)
EARLY
(18)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(15)
EARLY
(14)
EARLY
(13)
EARLY
(12)
EARLY
(12)
EARLY
(12)
EARLY
(12)
EARLY
(12)
EARLY
(11)
EARLY
(11)
EARLY
(11)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(10)
EARLY
(9)
EARLY
(9)
EARLY
(9)
EARLY
(8)

The 200 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In early

LEARY
(42)
RELAY
(42)
EARLY
(42)
RELY
(39)
YEAR
(36)
YARE
(36)
EARLY
(36)
LAYER
(36)
LEARY
(36)
LYRE
(33)
ARYL
(33)
LAYER
(32)
RELAY
(32)
EARLY
(32)
LEARY
(32)
EARLY
(30)
EARLY
(30)
LAYER
(30)
LAYER
(30)
RELAY
(30)
LAYER
(30)
LEARY
(30)
RELAY
(30)
LEARY
(30)
RELAY
(30)
RELAY
(28)
LEARY
(28)
EARLY
(28)
REAL
(27)
EARL
(27)
RELY
(27)
LEAR
(27)
LYRE
(27)
ARYL
(27)
YARE
(24)
LEARY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
EARLY
(24)
RELAY
(24)
LAYER
(24)
RELAY
(24)
LAYER
(24)
LAYER
(24)
LAYER
(24)
RELAY
(24)
LEARY
(24)
LEARY
(24)
YEAR
(24)
LEARY
(24)
RELAY
(22)
EARLY
(22)
LEARY
(22)
RELY
(21)
ARYL
(21)
REAL
(21)
LEAR
(21)
RELY
(21)
ARYL
(21)
RELY
(21)
LYRE
(21)
ARYL
(21)
EARL
(21)
RELY
(21)
LYRE
(21)
LYRE
(21)
ARYL
(21)
LYRE
(21)
RELY
(20)
RELAY
(20)
EARLY
(20)
LAYER
(20)
EARLY
(20)
LAYER
(20)
LEARY
(20)
EARLY
(18)
YARE
(18)
YARE
(18)
YARE
(18)
EARLY
(18)
LEARY
(18)
RELAY
(18)
RELAY
(18)
LYE
(18)
LYRE
(18)
LYE
(18)
LYE
(18)
LEARY
(18)
LEARY
(18)
RELAY
(18)
LAY
(18)
LAYER
(18)
LAYER
(18)
YARE
(18)
LAYER
(18)
LAYER
(18)
RELAY
(18)
LAY
(18)
YARE
(18)
LAY
(18)
YEAR
(18)
YEAR
(18)
YEAR
(18)
ARYL
(18)
YEAR
(18)
YEAR
(18)
EARLY
(16)
EARLY
(16)
LAYER
(16)
LEARY
(16)
RELY
(16)
EARLY
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RELAY
(16)
LAYER
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LEARY
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EARLY
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EARLY
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RELAY
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EARLY
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LEARY
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LYRE
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LAYER
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EARLY
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LEARY
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ARYL
(16)
RELAY
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RELAY
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LAYER
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LAY
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RELAY
(16)
LAYER
(16)
LEARY
(16)
LAYER
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LEARY
(16)
LEARY
(16)
RELAY
(16)
AYE
(15)
RAY
(15)
AYE
(15)
LEARY
(15)
REAL
(15)
REAL
(15)
AYE
(15)
LEAR
(15)
YAR
(15)
LEAR
(15)
RYE
(15)
YAR
(15)
REAL
(15)
RYE
(15)
RELY
(15)
RAY
(15)
LEAR
(15)
RYE
(15)
RELAY
(15)
REAL
(15)
RAY
(15)
YEA
(15)
YEA
(15)
ARYL
(15)
EARL
(15)
YEA
(15)
EARL
(15)
YAR
(15)
EARL
(15)
LEAR
(15)
LYRE
(15)
EARL
(15)
EARLY
(15)
RELAY
(14)
YEAR
(14)
YARE
(14)
EARL
(14)
RELY
(14)
YEAR
(14)
YARE
(14)
RELY
(14)
ARYL
(14)
RELY
(14)
LEAR
(14)
LYRE
(14)
LYRE
(14)
LAYER
(14)
LYRE
(14)
LEARY
(14)
RELY
(14)
ARYL
(14)
EARLY
(14)
ARYL
(14)
ARYL
(14)
LAYER
(14)
LYRE
(14)
REAL
(14)
RELY
(13)
RELAY
(13)
YEA
(13)
LAYER
(13)
LYRE
(13)
YAR
(13)
RELAY
(13)

Words containing the sequence early

Words that start with early (2 words)

Words with early in them (3 words)

Word Growth involving early

Shorter words in early

ar ear earl

Longer words containing early

clearly nuclearly

clearly unclearly

dearly

earlystage

nearly linearly nonlinearly

nearly linearly patrilinearly

pearly pearlywhite pearlywhites

yearly biyearly

yearly semiyearly