Definition of To begin with

1. Adverb. Before now. "Why didn't you tell me in the first place?"

Exact synonyms: Earlier, In The Beginning, In The First Place, Originally

Lexicographical Neighbors of To Begin With

to a tolerable degree
to a turn
to advantage
to all intents and purposes
to an adequate degree
to an extent
to and again
to and fro
to and fros
to arms
to be continued
to be honest
to be precise
to be sure
to beat the band
to begin with (current term)
to boot
to both ears
to date
to death
to die for
to do with
to each his own
to each one
to err is human
to go
to hand
to hell in a handbasket
to hell with
to infinite

Literary usage of To begin with

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin (1896)
"... procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company was to continue. ..."

2. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
"to begin with, both Constantius (AD 480), in the uninterpolated port ions of his Life of St. Germanus of Auxerre, and the British Christian writer Gildas ..."

3. Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle by Jane Welsh Carlyle (1883)
"... did not end till far on in April—' Lectures,' six of them, of which I could form no image or conjecture beforehand, were to begin with May. ..."

4. The Quarterly Review by William Gifford, John Taylor Coleridge, John Gibson Lockhart, Whitwell Elwin, William Macpherson, William Smith, John Murray, Rowland Edmund Prothero Ernle, George Walter Prothero (1902)
"a non-scientific definition, which begged the question to begin with.'« Mr Frazer's definition, of course, is not devised for any such illogical purpose. ..."

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