foremost
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈfɔː.məʊst/
rhymes: -əʊst
Etymology: From Old English formest, fyrmest (“earliest, first, most prominent”), from Proto-Germanic *frumistaz, from the locative stem *fur-, *fr- + the superlative suffix *-umistaz, stem ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr-. The suffix *-umistaz was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix *-umô (as in Old English fruma) + the regular superlative suffix *-istaz (English -est); *-umô in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.
Cognate with Old Frisian formest, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (frumists). See for, first and Old English fruma for more. Partially cognate to primus, from Proto-Indo-European *pr- + Latin superlative suffix -imus, from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.
A comparative former was back-formed analogically, leaving the m from *-umô in place. Later the Old English suffix complex -(u)m-est was conflated with the word most through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted as fore + -most.
Senses: examples: text: She prankes not by hir mistresse side, she preases not to bée / The foremost of the companie, as when she erst was frée.
ref: 1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC:
text: As I plunged into the reeds, my foremost pursuers emerged from the gap.
ref: 1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Chapter 12”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, →OCLC:
text: Juan Diego hadn’t noticed the other people in the temple, except for what appeared to be two mourners; they knelt in the foremost pew.
ref: 2015, John Irving, chapter 7, in Avenue of Mysteries, London: Doubleday, page 70:
synonyms: front
frontmost
forwardmost
antonyms: back
backmost
hindmost
rear
rearmost
rearwardmost
glosses: Positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward.
examples: text: […] of both them, she / (By Pallas counsell) was to haue the grace / Of foremost greeting.
ref: c. 1615, George Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses, London: Nathaniel Butter, Book 7, p. 102:
text: 1769, Oliver Goldsmith, The Roman History, London: S. Baker and G. Leigh et al., Volume 1, Chapter 16, p. 254,
He was the best horseman, and the swiftest runner of his time. He was ever the foremost to engage, and the last to retreat;
text: a. 1891, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, in The Shorter Novels of Herman Melville, New York: Fawcett Premier, 1956, Chapter 17, p. 244,
a bright young schoolmate of his whom he had seen struck by much the same startling impotence in the act of eagerly rising in the class to be foremost in response to a testing question put to it by the master
synonyms: first
glosses: Coming before (all) others in time.
examples: text: The exhibition features works by the country’s foremost artists.
text: Foremost among the workers’ grievances was the company’s failure to address the many safety issues in the plant.
text: What, shall one of us / That struck the foremost man of all this world / But for supporting robbers, shall we now / Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
text: 1759, George Colman, The Rolliad, Canto 1, in Prose on Several Occasions: Accompanied with Some Pieces in Verse, London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume 2, p. 292,
And have I then so oft, enrag’d she cried, / My longing soul its foremost wish denied?
text: 1846, Frederick Douglass, Reception Speech at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May 12, 1846, in My Bondage and My Freedom, New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855, Appendix, pp. 410-411,
Of all things that have been said of slavery to which exception has been taken by slaveholders, this, the charge of cruelty, stands foremost, and yet there is no charge capable of clearer demonstration, than that of the most barbarous inhumanity on the part of the slaveholders toward their slaves.
text: 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, New Delhi: Penguin India, 1994, Section 9.13, p. 580,
She was thinking of other matters. What was foremost on her mind was Haresh’s panama hat, which (though he had doffed it) she thought exceptionally stupid.
synonyms: greatest
leading
paramount
primary
principal
top
glosses: Of the highest rank or position; of the greatest importance; of the highest priority.
examples: text: I let fall the tiller, turned my back on them, and sat down on the foremost thwart.
ref: 1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 10, in Lord Jim, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, page 133:
topics: nautical
transport
antonyms: aftermost
glosses: Closest to the bow.
Derived terms: foremostly
headforemost
sternforemost