first and foremost

adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"first-and-foremost" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“first and foremost” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
18
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Primarily; most importantly.

Corpus desk

Index EN-first-and-foremost · first and foremost · English

first and foremost · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 18 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "F" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for first and foremost
PropertyValue
Headwordfirst and foremost
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters18
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “first and foremost” in English

first and foremostsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

first and foremost is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Primarily; most importantly.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for first and foremost, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is first and foremost, spelled F-I-R-S-T- -A-N-D- -F-O-R-E-M-O-S-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Primarily; most importantly.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how first and foremost appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. "There are many things to be considered before that question can be answered properly," I said, sententiously. "First and foremost, do you love Mr. Edgar?"
  2. First and foremost, there is currently lacking any single text which comes close to cataloguing the great variety of terms in use.

Synonyms

above all

This word in other languages

sobretodo(Español)d’abord et avant tout(Français)vor allem(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "first and foremost"?
"first and foremost" is spelled F-I-R-S-T- -A-N-D- -F-O-R-E-M-O-S-T.
What does "first and foremost" mean?
As an adverb, "first and foremost" means: Primarily; most importantly.
What language does "first and foremost" come from?
"first and foremost" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list