Meanings
- occurring previously
I'd seen earlier (in the day).
3 more examples
I shall be late because I missed the earlier train.
To me it seems that extensive investment in relatively low-powered units may have the same ultimate result of motive power shortage as that which afflicts the London Midland Region today, and which has compelled the re-engining of some of the earlier multiple-unit diesel train sets.
1958 June 28, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 412Machine learning uses computer algorithms to teach machines to make independent decisions by learning from earlier or existing behavior.
2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019
- previously; before now; sooner
I shall be late because I didn't start earlier.
2 more examples
From what I vaguely saw earlier this morning, when I had just woken up and was tidying my bed, a tall, bulky person left an unfamiliar box at my front door.
They were looking for some measuring equipment they had placed in the ice earlier.
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbearlier in time; previously
adverbcomparatives of ‘soon’ or ‘early’
adverbbefore now
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Ancient Greek πρότερος, πρότερον
- πρότερος (próteros)occurring previously
- πρότερον (próteron)previously; before now; sooner
Danish tidligere
- tidligereoccurring previously
Esperanto antaŭa, antaŭe
- antaŭaoccurring previously
- antaŭepreviously; before now; sooner
Finnish aiempi, aikaisempi
- aiempioccurring previously
- aikaisempioccurring previously
- aikaisemminpreviously; before now; sooner
- aiemminpreviously; before now; sooner
French plus tôt
- plus tôtpreviously; before now; sooner
German vorherig, vorher
- vorherigoccurring previously
- vorherpreviously; before now; sooner
Greek προηγούμενος
- προηγούμενος (proïgoúmenos)occurring previously
Italian precedente, prima
- precedenteoccurring previously
- primapreviously; before now; sooner
Latin prius
- priusoccurring previously
Norwegian tidligere
- tidligerepreviously; before now; sooner
Norwegian Bokmål tidligere
- tidligereoccurring previously
Polish wcześniejszy, wcześniej
- wcześniejszyoccurring previously
- wcześniejpreviously; before now; sooner
Portuguese precedente, anterior
- precedenteoccurring previously
- anterioroccurring previously
- antespreviously; before now; sooner
- mais cedopreviously; before now; sooner
Spanish antes
- antespreviously; before now; sooner
Swedish tidigare, tidigare
- tidigareoccurring previously
- tidigarepreviously; before now; sooner
Cite this entry
earlier. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/earlier
“earlier.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/earlier. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “earlier,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/earlier.
Source: earlier on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.