Early
Early adverb - Before the usual or expected time.
First thing and early are semantically related. In some cases you can use "First thing" instead an adverb "Early".
First thing
Early and first thing are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Early" instead an adverb phrase "First thing".
Mutual synonyms
Both terms in one sentence
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An early episode shows that there is a teacher who acts as the club's advisor - but he doesn't know the first thing about using computers and is a nonentity for the rest of the series.
Source: Anime / Digimon Adventure 02 -
Early Bird Boss: The very first thing Enoch does at the very start of the game is descend... and fight Azazel.
- While they don't regret writing Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, creators Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn wince in hindsight at their inclusion of Attempted Rape early in the series, and Cohn says it'd be the first thing to go if he ever had another go at it.
Source: Old Shame / Comic Books
Cite this Source
First thing and Early. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 22, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/early/first_thing
Early & First thing. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/early/first_thing>.
First thing or Early. 2016. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/early/first_thing.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "early" and "first thing" have occurred on timeline