| Adj. | 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" first - preceding all others in time or space or degree; "the first house on the right"; "the first day of spring"; "his first political race"; "her first baby"; "the first time"; "the first meetings of the new party"; "the first phase of his training" late - being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time; "late evening"; "late 18th century"; "a late movie"; "took a late flight"; "had a late breakfast" middle - between an earlier and a later period of time; "in the middle years"; "in his middle thirties" |
| 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 - belonging to the distant past; "the early inhabitants of Europe"; "former generations"; "in other times" past - earlier than the present time; no longer current; "time past"; "his youth is past"; "this past Thursday"; "the past year" | |
| 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" linguistics - the scientific study of language late - of a later stage in the development of a language or literature; used especially of dead languages; "Late Greek" middle - of a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages; "Middle English is the English language from about 1100 to 1500"; "Middle Gaelic" | |
| 6. | early - expected in the near future; "look for an early end to the negotiations" future - yet to be or coming; "some future historian will evaluate him" | |
| Adv. | 1. | early - during an early stage; "early on in her career" |
| 2. | early - before the usual time or the time expected; "she graduated early"; "the house was completed ahead of time" | |
| 3. | early - in good time; "he awoke betimes that morning" |