• adj. 最重要的；最先的
• adv. 首先；居于首位地

来自古英语formest, 最早的。来自PIE*pre-mo, 最早的，*pre-, 在先，词源同fore, *mo, 最高级后缀，词源同intimate, ultimate. -est, 最高级后缀。因此，该词实际上为双重最高级形式，后拼写受fore,most影响。比较former, first.

foremost

foremost: see former

foremost (adj.)

Middle English formest, from Old English fyrmest, formest "earliest, first, most prominent," from Proto-Germanic *furmista-/*frumista- (related to Old English fruma "beginning"), from PIE *pre-mo-, suffixed (superlative) form of root *per- (1) "forward, through; before; first" (see per) + additional superlative suffix -est. For the -m-, see -most, and compare similarly formed Old Frisian formest, Gothic frumists. Altered on the assumption that it is a compound of fore and most. The same compound without the superlative -m- is first. Also in Old English as an adverb, "first of all, at first, in the first place."

1. She is, first and foremost, her husband's alter ego.

她首先是丈夫的知己。

来自柯林斯例句

2. He was one of the world's foremost scholars of ancient Indian culture.

他是世界上最杰出的古印第安文化研究者之一。

来自柯林斯例句

3. I see myself, first and foremost, as a working artist.

我首先还是把自己看作一名艺术工作者。

来自柯林斯例句

4. It is first and foremost a trade agreement.

这首先是一个贸易协议。

来自柯林斯例句

5. the world's foremost authority on the subject

该学科全世界首屈一指的权威

来自《权威词典》