in the first instance

idiom

formal
: before other events happen : as the first thing in a series of actions
You will be seen in the first instance by your own doctor who may then send you to a specialist.

Examples of in the first instance in a Sentence

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Under Loper Bright,] our task [instead] is to determine ‘the best reading of the statute’ in the first instance. Alden Abbott, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025 Using my fitness examples again, in the first instance, my actions were irregular, insufficient and not aligned. David Deane-Spread, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024 Science is communal in the first instance, a matter of clubs and, not infrequently, pairings. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024 The more important question, though, is why Brazil’s government was demanding those removals in the first instance. The Editors, National Review, 6 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for in the first instance 

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“In the first instance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20the%20first%20instance. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

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