noun
definition
A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.
adjective
definition
At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.
example
at eleven, we went for an early lunch; she began reading at an early age; his mother suffered an early death
definition
Arriving a time before expected; sooner than on time.
example
The early guests sipped their punch and avoided each other's eyes.
definition
Near the start or beginning.
example
Early results showed their winning 245 out of 300 seats in parliament. The main opponent locked up only 31 seats.
definition
Having begun to occur; in its early stages.
example
early cancer
definition
Of a star or class of stars, hotter than the sun.
adverb
definition
At a time before expected; sooner than usual.
example
We finished the project an hour sooner than scheduled, so we left early.
definition
Soon; in good time; seasonably.
Examples of early in a Sentence
It's late and I have to get up early tomorrow.
I never eat this early in the morning.
It was early in the spring, just after I had learned to speak.
He left early each Friday afternoon, often returning late on Monday morning.
It was early morning when Howie first intruded.
They used to hang in long festoons from our porch, filling the whole air with their fragrance, untainted by any earthy smell; and in the early morning, washed in the dew, they felt so soft, so pure, I could not help wondering if they did not resemble the asphodels of God's garden.
I'm going to bed early.
They finally arrived in Springtown in the early afternoon.
In these early days of the Internet Renaissance, the number of great masters is in the tens of thousands, not the hundreds.
I know by now, if he wins he comes back early to brag about it, but if he stays out till morning it means he's lost and will come back in a rage.
It's a little early, but twins tend to have their own schedule.
Even after my illness I remembered one of the words I had learned in these early months.
I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did.
Early cars tried to be faster and faster, to break the 60 mph barrier.
Another favourite haunt of mine was the orchard, where the fruit ripened early in July.
And so at an early age, you took a wife, started having children, and supported yourself by farming.
Many incidents of those early years are fixed in my memory, isolated, but clear and distinct, making the sense of that silent, aimless, dayless life all the more intense.
I had found a few early violets in the garden and brought them to my teacher.
He came along early, crossing my bean-field, though without anxiety or haste to get to his work, such as Yankees exhibit.
The sun set too early on the autumn day, and she finished the trip to Doolin in darkness.
All my early lessons have in them the breath of the woods--the fine, resinous odour of pine needles, blended with the perfume of wild grapes.
Those early compositions were mental gymnastics.
As often happens in early youth, especially to one who leads a lonely life, he felt an unaccountable tenderness for this young man and made up his mind that they would be friends.
The library was her refuge, though he had to wonder why she was up so early again.
The Transandine line, designed to open railway communication between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso, was so far completed early in 1909 that on the Argentine side only the summit tunnel, 2 m.
An Englishwoman who saw the process in Turkey in the early 1700s brought it back to England, where it was proven to be effective.
I have an extensive library of very old recipe books, including several "autographs"—original, handwritten, unpublished, personal cookbooks—that date back to the early 1700s.
After my teacher, Miss Sullivan, came to me, I sought an early opportunity to lock her in her room.
This habit of assimilating what pleased me and giving it out again as my own appears in much of my early correspondence and my first attempts at writing.
The doctor, whether from lack of means or because he did not like to part from his young wife in the early days of their marriage, took her about with him wherever the hussar regiment went and his jealousy had become a standing joke among the hussar officers.
Early in the morning of the sixth of October Pierre went out of the shed, and on returning stopped by the door to play with a little blue- gray dog, with a long body and short bandy legs, that jumped about him.
Jonathan was up early and ready to go, so Alex hurriedly showered and dressed.
I don't want to put her to bed too early, though.
After early toast, cereal, and requisite coffee, we were on our way.
Reverend Humphries called me a cab after an early pancake breakfast he insisted on cooking.
I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning to relieve Carmen, so I'll drop you off at Katie's.
In the early 1900s, we learned about blood types, vitamins, and Alzheimer's disease, and invented the electrocardiograph.
In the early 1800s, fertilizer companies sprang up using bone meal as the principle agent.
Who would not be early to rise, and rise earlier and earlier every successive day of his life, till he became unspeakably healthy, wealthy, and wise?
Early in the year 1806 Nicholas Rostov returned home on leave.
Early in the winter Denisov also came back and stayed with them.
Rostov felt so ill at ease and uncomfortable with Boris that, when the latter looked in after supper, he pretended to be asleep, and early next morning went away, avoiding Boris.
They disappeared into the forest, and Count Orlov-Denisov, having seen Grekov off, returned, shivering from the freshness of the early dawn and excited by what he had undertaken on his own responsibility, and began looking at the enemy camp, now just visible in the deceptive light of dawn and the dying campfires.
In the early days of October another envoy came to Kutuzov with a letter from Napoleon proposing peace and falsely dated from Moscow, though Napoleon was already not far from Kutuzov on the old Kaluga road.
She didn't chide me for calling early.
His early crimes were rape and that's what caused his arrest.
It was early in the season for the little fellows—they usually stayed outside until the cold weather coaxed them indoors.
Carmen left early to pick up Destiny so that Katie could go see Alex.
It was too early for the silver shop to be open.
Connor and Sarah turned in early.