firm2, n. company, business, concern, house, Fr. maison, Inf outfit; trust, establishment, institution; corporation, syndicate, association, holding company, conglomerate; partnership, co-partnership, co-operation.
firmament, n. sky, heaven, heavens, vault of heaven, vault, Dial, lift, Chiefly Literary, welkin; empyrean, air, ether, celestial sphere, starry host; infinity, space, the void, universe, stratosphere; azure, the blue, cerulean, blue sky, the wild blue yonder, outer space.
firmness, n. 1. hardness, rigidity, solidity, resistance; toughness, callosity, callousness, durity; petrification, ossification, density, compactness; adamant, steel, iron; irresilience, inelasticity.
2. stability, steadiness, constancy, balance; fixedness, immovableness, soundness, fastness; establishment, rootedness.
3. immutability, unalterability, unchangeableness, invariability, fixity; irrevocability, irreversibility, indissolubility, irrepealability; durability, durableness, endurance, changelessness; abidingness, lastingness, continuance, perdurability, survival, duration.
4. determination, resolution, steadfastness, tenacity, Inf. stick-to-it-ive-ness; resolve, fortitude, will, will power; mettle, backbone, courage, intrepidity, grit, nerve; drive, push, persistence, pertinacity, perseverance, doggedness; iron will, indomitability, relentlessness, inexorability; intransigence, obstinacy, stubbornness, obduracy.
first, adj. 1. premiere, initial, initiative, opening; antecedent, anterior, preceding, precedent, in the front; primary, prime, primal; earliest, pristine, primeval, primigenial; elementary, fundamental, rudimentary, rudimental; original, incipient, beginning, germinal, embryonic, embryonal, genetic, genetical, nascent; oldest, eldest, primogenital, primogenitary, senior.
2. principal, capital, chief, cardinal, paramount main, major, meat-and-potatoes, head; first-rate tops, top-drawer, topflight, Inf. topnotch, Inf. tiptop, Inf. crack, Inf. whiz-bang, Brit. Sl. whizzo; first-class, ace, grade A, Brit. Sl. top-hole, Inf. dandy, second to none; supreme, superlative, best, top, highest, crowning, acmic, summital; greatest, maximal, nonpareil, unparalleled, matchless, peerless, utmost, uppermost; supereminent, preeminent, star, sovereign, ruling; prevailing, hegemonic, predominant; ranking, leading, foremost. -adv. 3. earliest, before anything else, initially; originally, primarily; firstly, in the first place, right off the bat, to begin with, from the start, at the outset.
4. rather, in preference to [s.t.], more willingly or readily; sooner, before.
-n. 5. beginning, origin, genesis, alpha, prime, dawn, dawning; incipience, inception, commencement, start, outset, the word “go”; germ, seed, conception, germination, embryo, birth, nativity.
6. first place, victory, win, defeat, triumph, success, blue ribbon.
first-rate, adj. 1. first-class, ace, grade A, Inf. A-1; tops, top-drawer, topflight, Inf. topnotch, Inf. tiptop, Brit. Sl. top-hole, second to none, Inf crack, Inf. whiz-bang, Brit. Sl. whizzo.