First vs. Initial

Firstadjective

Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.

Firstadjective

Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.

Firstadverb

Before anything else; firstly.

Firstadverb

For the first time;

Firstnoun

(uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.

Firstnoun

(uncountable) The first gear of an engine.

Firstnoun

(countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.

Firstnoun

first base

Firstnoun

A first-class honours degree.

Firstnoun

A first-edition copy of some publication.

Firstnoun

A fraction of an integer ending in one.

Firstnoun

(obsolete) Time; time granted; respite.

Firstadjective

Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest; as, the first day of a month; the first year of a reign.

Firstadjective

Foremost; in front of, or in advance of, all others.

Firstadjective

Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest; as, Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.

Firstadverb

Before any other person or thing in time, space, rank, etc.; - much used in composition with adjectives and participles.

Firstnoun

The upper part of a duet, trio, etc., either vocal or instrumental; - so called because it generally expresses the air, and has a preëminence in the combined effect.

Firstnoun

the first or highest in an ordering or series;

Firstnoun

the first element in a countable series;

Firstnoun

the time at which something is supposed to begin;

Firstnoun

the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed at first base

Firstnoun

an honours degree of the highest class

Firstnoun

the lowest forward gear ratio in the gear box of a motor vehicle; used to start a car moving

Firstadjective

preceding all others in time or space or degree;

Firstadjective

indicating the beginning unit in a series

Firstadjective

serving to set in motion;

Firstadjective

serving to begin;

Firstadjective

ranking above all others;

Firstadjective

highest in pitch or chief among parts or voices or instruments or orchestra sections;

Firstadjective

being the gear producing the lowest drive speed;

Firstadverb

before anything else;

Firstadverb

the initial time;

Firstadverb

before another in time, space, or importance;

Firstadverb

prominently forward;

Initialadjective

Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.

Initialadjective

Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word.

Initialnoun

The first letter of a word or a name.

Initialnoun

In plural, the first letter of each word of a person's full name considered as a unit.

Initialnoun

A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.

Initialnoun

(phonology) onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology.

Initialverb

(transitive) To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.

Initialadjective

Of or pertaining to the beginning; marking the commencement; incipient; commencing; as, the initial symptoms of a disease.

Initialadjective

Placed at the beginning; standing at the head, as of a list or series; as, the initial letters of a name.

Initialnoun

The first letter of a word or a name.

Initialverb

To put an initial to; to mark with an initial of initials.

Initialnoun

the first letter of a word (especially a person's name);

Initialverb

mark with one's initials

Initialadjective

occurring at the beginning;

Initial

In a written or published work, an initial or drop cap is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is derived from the Latin initialis, which means standing at the beginning.