early -
at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time; "early morning"; "an early warning"; "early diagnosis"; "an early death"; "took early retirement"; "an early spring"; "early varieties of peas and tomatoes mature before most standard varieties"
middle between an earlier and a later period of time; "in the middle years"; "in his middle thirties"
first ranking above all others; "was first in her class"; "the foremost figure among marine artists"; "the top graduate"
timing the regulation of occurrence, pace, or coordination to achieve a desired effect (as in music, theater, athletics, mechanics)
primaeval,
primeval,
primordial,
primal,
aboriginal having existed from the beginning; in an earliest or original stage or state; "aboriginal forests"; "primal eras before the appearance of life on earth"; "the forest primeval"; "primordial matter"; "primordial forms of life"
beforehand,
advance situated ahead or going before; "an advance party"; "at that time the most advanced outpost was still east of the Rockies"
archaean,
archean of or relating to the earliest known rocks formed during the Precambrian Eon
archaeozoic,
archeozoic of or belonging to earlier of two divisions of the Precambrian era; "archeozoic life forms"
azoic before the appearance of life; "azoic rocks contain not organic remains"
earlier,
earliest (comparative and superlative of `early') more early than; most early; "a fashion popular in earlier times"; "his earlier work reflects the influence of his teacher"; "Verdi's earliest and most raucous opera"
earlyish being somewhat early; "at an earlyish hour"
untimely,
premature uncommonly early or before the expected time; "illness led to his premature death"; "alcohol brought him to an untimely end"
premature,
previous uncommonly early or before the expected time; "illness led to his premature death"; "alcohol brought him to an untimely end"
proterozoic formed in the later of two divisions of the Precambrian era; "proterozoic life forms"
proto indicating the first or earliest or original; "`proto' is a combining form in a word like `protolanguage' that refers to the hypothetical ancestor of another language or group of languages"
early -
being or occurring at an early stage of development; "in an early stage"; "early forms of life"; "early man"; "an early computer"
later,
late coming at a subsequent time or stage; "without ulterior argument"; "the mood posterior to"
archaic,
primitive little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type; "archaic forms of life"; "primitive mammals"; "the okapi is a short-necked primitive cousin of the giraffe"
young,
new being in its early stage; "a young industry"; "the day is still young"
primitive,
rude,
crude used of preliterate or tribal or nonindustrial societies; "primitive societies"
embryotic,
embryonic in an early stage of development; "the embryonic government staffed by survivors of the massacre"; "an embryonic nation, not yet self-governing"
inchoate,
incipient only partly in existence; imperfectly formed; "incipient civil disorder"; "an incipient tumor"; "a vague inchoate idea"
early -
of an early stage in the development of a language or literature; "the Early Hebrew alphabetical script is that used mainly from the 11th to the 6th centuries B.C."; "Early Modern English is represented in documents printed from 1476 to 1700"
middle between an earlier and a later period of time; "in the middle years"; "in his middle thirties"
