firstness

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noun

The quality of being first; originality; priority; primacy.

Scrabble 12
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Meanings

nounfirstness (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe quality of being first; originality; priority; primacy.

    Firstness (in-itselfness, originality) helps to explain logico-cognitive processes and therefore, at once, the formation of signs.

    2012, Susan Petrilli, Expression and Interpretation in Language, Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 140
    1 more example

    But it was not swimming and boating again that pleased him. The joy of it was its firstness: never before had a boat rested on the waters of this world; never before had these children seen a human being swim.

    1983, Orson Scott Card, The Worthington Chronicle, Ace, →ISBN

Origin

From first + -ness.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

firstness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/firstness

MLA

“firstness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/firstness. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “firstness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/firstness.

Source: firstness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.