| 词组 | first and foremost |
| 释义 | first and foremost This alliterative phrase is called redundant, trite, and meaningless by Evans 1957, political bombast by Copperud 1964, and a cliché by Mac-millan 1982. No doubt there is some justice in all these criticisms, and you may want to keep them in mind the next time you are called upon to make a campaign speech ("First and foremost, let me thank the good people of this fair city ... "). First and foremost has other uses than as an introduction to windy oratory, however. Its alliteration and rhythm give it an emphatic quality which may make it attractive to good writers as an occasional alternative to primarily or primary: • Its first and foremost component is the conscious cultivation of man's intellectual and expressive powers —Thomas F. O'Dea, Center Mag., May 1969 • ... what they needed first and foremost was a giant statistical brain —David Halberstam, Harper's, February 1971 • ... the danger of Russia's strength was always, first and foremost, a function of Europe's own weakness —George F. Kennan, New Yorker, 1 May 1971 |
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