to begin with

• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

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to begin with (not comparable)

1. initially, at first, at the very start

   Synonyms: at first, to start with

   To begin with, we moved the furniture out of the room.

2. in the first place

   Synonym: to start with

   Double my wages? You weren't paying me anything to begin with!

• (at the very start): see Thesaurus:initially
• (in the first place):